09 Oct 6 Different Strategies to Set Your Business Apart from the Competition
Wondering how to make your business stand out from the competition? Read on to learn different strategies of how to make an impact and stand out from your competitors. Differentiation allows companies to provide superior quality and value to their customers at prices that are affordable. This then creates a win-win situation for your company and the customer, thereby boosting the overall profit margin and viability of your company. Below are six ways to differentiate in the areas of service, channels of distribution, reputation/image, product, relationships, and price.
Product Differentiation
Product differentiation is the most visible of all of the strategies. This is because it includes physical perceived differences that can be acquired through advertising. It may also take the shape of other features, efficacy, performance, meeting specifications, or a number of other criteria. This is the area where most business-to-business marketers and consumer marketers will spend the bulk of their dollars and time.
Service Differentiation
Another way to make your business stand out from the competition is with service differentiation. This includes not only customer service and delivery, but also other elements of supporting business such as installation, training, and streamlining ordering. These may seem like very basic components of business, but knowing there is going to be a baseline level of service and quality from a product, no matter where you order it from or get that service, makes a huge difference.
Distribution Differentiation
Channels of distribution can also be a highly effective way to differentiate your business from the rest. Distribution can provide availability or coverage, greater ease of ordering, immediate access to expertise, and higher levels overall of technical and customer service.
For many manufacturers who live within a fragmented market, it’s vital to be able to reach the end-user with distribution. Especially with raw materials, the value and importance of efficient and streamlined delivery are vital to an on-time delivery system, cost efficiency, customer satisfaction, and return customers.
With adequate support, which may include training, sales education, supporting literature, sharing, etc., a distributor can become a strong ally and partner to any manufacturer. Even in a non-exclusive arrangement, a dedicated distributor can create real advantages with joint promotions, warranty and service support, bundling, and technical service. This can be incredibly valuable in the long run.
Relationship Differentiation
This aspect of how to make your business stand out from the competition often gets overlooked. This can be done through company personnel. Employees, team members, or associates with customer connections can provide courtesy, credibility, competence, responsiveness, and reliability. When they are efficient with the completion of day-to-day client communication, they then become the link between the customer and the product. If the link between the two breaks down then the business will have major problems.
In many businesses, the representative becomes a very trusted member of the customer’s lifeline to the company. The point person makes sure that the product is delivered on time and works on any problems that may come up and then resolves them quickly and accurately. A performance such as this creates strong bonds between the customer and the vendor.
This focuses specifically on the customer and the relationships that are formed between the company’s link to the product and the customer itself. Customers most often prefer to connect and conduct business with people over larger, faceless institutions. And while building a relationship that includes trust takes time, it establishes a highly differentiated position for that company and that client.
Your Brand Image and Reputation Matters
Some businesses do an outstanding job making their business stand out from the competition by setting themselves apart by their image or branding. This can be a brilliant strategic path to get your company to stand out from the others. This is because it’s a great way for customers to connect in a physical atmosphere with branding concepts. Further, this branding is not just limited to retail businesses.
Creating a unique and influential image or reputation can seem like a tremendous task for new companies or companies looking to rebrand their images. With a company like Pic Station, companies can find easy and fun ways to get the word out organically about their company in settings that are both fun and easily accessible by their clients and employees. For example, renting a photo booth for a company’s next big event gives them the opportunity to connect their guests and employees through a fun and interactive medium. With whatever kind of customization they prefer, their photobooth images can include branding from that company, giving the user both a digital and hard copy memory of the experience as well as furthering the brand image or logo. This information can then be shared in real-time with individuals beyond the event itself, further organically spreading the image and branding of the company.
In addition, with a company like Pic Station, the client can get access to additional social media accessibility and exposure through the use of hashtag printing, increasing access to Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and more. This, in addition to data analytics, can be captured to give the company more information on its users.
Companies can also opt for video booths as well to capture both high-quality images and sound, which can be accompanied with a branded logo. All of these elements help to make a business stand out from the competition when looking at new ways to differentiate and brand themselves.
Price Differentiation
Successfully competing on price means knowing that every customer has a different price they would be willing to pay for your product or services. Knowing this allows a company to make the most of potential revenue by offering different price points for certain services, which allows for options for the client as well as a profit margin for the business. This also recognizes that the value of goods is sometimes subjective and in the end, companies benefit from having this type of flexibility.
Find out more about Pic Station and the great ways they can help your company stand out from the competition today!