Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
By Henry Brown
One of the toughest parts of doing business is forging something incredibly unique that doesn’t just guarantee you customers but also sets you apart from your competitors. When we talk about the notion of identity, especially in business, there are a few things that we should understand. What does it really take for you to develop a unique identity in business, and is it possible to build a strong identity when the business world is constantly changing?
Understand what makes great customer service first
You might be wondering how to sell products online successfully, but it’s critical to recognize that a unique identity is partly about the impression you give out to others. When you are selling a product, you need to understand that advice is the most important thing. You need to sell products to people by understanding their pain points and then developing a personal connection.
You need to keep customers hooked. Engaging customers is critical, but you need to provide that solid value. When we are trying to make ourselves different, something as simple as being attentive can easily separate us.
The right combination of image and brand
You need to understand where you stand in the marketplace and who your ideal customer is. Therefore, when you start to identify what will drive growth, you’ve got to construct a solid audit to ensure that you are understanding how you fit in the market. This means looking deep into your marketing tactics, such as search engine optimization and your brand, but also looking at competitors.
If you want to be a solid brand leading a specific field, you need to identify where you fit in the grand scheme of things, but also look at where you are going wrong. Many companies don’t necessarily think that they are doing anything wrong, but they can be incredibly misguided.
Providing great support
Small businesses will always benefit from support policies that can deal with a customer issue right away. When a customer makes a complaint, one of the biggest repercussions is that it can damage the brand instantly.
Customers will always want you to bend over backward for them but you must consider if this makes your business unprofitable. You’ve got to sell items at a competitive price, but you’ve got to make sure that you’re not cutting your nose off to spite your face.
Considering your visual direction
We must recognize that to be an effective brand, we have a unique identity and how we promote ourselves to the big wide world. When we have a visual direction, this is a very specific type of language. However, many small businesses seldom consider the importance of a visual direction at the outset. But you can start with a very simple checklist of things to cover, such as your typography, color palette, logo, and a solid branding brief. It’s about making sure that you have a very specific visual direction that separates you from others.
When we look at our competitors, they may showcase very specific language in terms of color, tone of voice, and logo. You want to be different, but you also want to make sure that you share some of that aesthetic language. Small businesses think more about selling products, but we have to make sure that when we are developing a unique identity we have the right imagery as well.
Delivering quickly
We live in a world of 24/7 turnaround. A small business that needs to compete with others needs to do it quickly. Whether you are operating in the world of eCommerce or selling to customers face to face, you must recognize delivering with a quick turnaround can keep you competitive.
Convenience is the name of the game. Ensuring that you deliver more or provide a greater variety of products is critical to making sure that you are operating with speed, but while speed wins the race, it’s important to be fast and focused.
Sticking to your plan
The toughest thing when you start finding your niche is not deviating from the plan. You need to develop a unique identity, and this means that sometimes you may want to go with what the market or the industry is pointing towards, but trends are only fleeting.
Therefore, if you want to be a unique business, you’ve got to understand that developing your own unique identity is far more important. It’s not about following trends and thereby creating the possibility that you are running after things may quickly go out of fashion and ruin your profits.
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Henry Brown is an online marketing executive. When he isn’t talking shop, he’s roaming the streets of London, uncovering the extra-ordinary in the ordinary.
