How To Make Your Business Stand Out In A Crowded Market

Do you feel like your market is really crowded? Do you have a hard time making a name for your brand or products?

The real problem I want to address with you here is how to make your business stand out in a crowded market. In order to truly differentiate yourself in a sea of competitors, you need to take an objective look at how you’re positioning yourself and your brand within the industry.

The first question you need to ask yourself is, “Are you telling the right story about how your business relates to the rest of the market?” This will often define what your unique value proposition is — why your customers choose you over your competitors.

When someone thinks about your business, how are they thinking about your business in relation to others who offer similar products or services?

In 2012, I was struggling with defining my unique position in the online coaching space. I was fighting my own reputation. I wasn’t paying attention to the amazing positioning I had already achieved (mostly by accident). Everywhere I went, I heard about my own reputation from others, yet I chose not to believe it.

As a result, I was making the wrong offers to my coaching clients, charging the wrong prices, and using the wrong tactics. I was still helping my clients get killer results, but something was wrong. I wasn’t owning up to my full potential.

Once 2013 came around, I decided to make a concerted effort to be much more intentional about how my business was positioned.

I got more consistent about how I was presenting my brand, and focused on building upon the story that I wanted to tell, rather than catering to what people already thought about me. I took another look at pricing, visual branding, intellectual property, internal systems… and it paid off big time.

Working just 20 hours per week on client projects, I maintained my revenue for the year and as a result of my efforts, in the next year I more than doubled my revenue. My brand recognition and reputation have never been better.

Here’s how I did it.

First, I used Sally Hogshead’s “Fascination Advantage” System to discover what my own powerful positioning story was. I learned that Power & Prestige were what I needed to focus on in my brand, and that anything less would feel inauthentic and out of alignment.

Second, I really dug into one of my favorite 10ThousandFeet tools: The Onlyness Inventory, and considered how other valued my skills, strengths, and passions.

Finally, I considered my own customer perspective and thought about what attributes of my brand were most compelling to my own favorite customers, my Virtual Focus group. Gathering feedback from my most trusted customers helped me to discover how I can go out and win more customers just like them.

In my new free online class, Build a Stand-Out Business, I go through 25 practical lessons in how to develop your creative business into a stand-out leader in your industry. Join now and let’s make a meaningful impact in growing your reputation and client base.

Tara Gentile FOLLOW >

Tara Gentile is a creativeLIVE instructor, business strategist, and the creator of the Customer Perspective Process.