The Delusion of Uniqueness

The theme of uniqueness keeps bombarding us from all directions in just about all the media and marketing that comes our way.  Ironically, the majority of businesses keep making remarkably similar statements that they are different, they are better than their competitor and they are unique.

Obviously it wouldn’t be great marketing to put up a billboard that announced to the world: “Hey – deal with me – I’m the same as everyone else”.    Or would it?   Imagine a marketing campaign where the audience was told: “You may as well pick me because I’m just as good as the next guy so, why not?”

Okay – hang onto your chair – here’s some news you aren’t going to like.  The truth is, most service companies are pretty much exactly the same.  We can find a hundred lawyers or accountants or financial advisors in any small city and they all say the same thing.

We’re different and here’s how:
•    With us, it’s not all about the money.
•    We care about our clients.
•    We don’t take shortcuts
•    We are experts
•    We take the time to understand your needs
•    We make sure your needs are taken care of
•    We make the complex simple
•    We take the worry out of your decisions

If this sounds familiar, it’s because it IS familiar.

I did warn you that you wouldn’t like it.  Okay, I can hear it now; the denial.    It’s like the 5 stages of grief:  Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance.   Companies will not and cannot become truly different in the eyes of their clients until they accept the fact that there are hundreds, even thousands of similar service providers in the same market that are ALL telling their clients they are unique – for exactly the same reasons.

So what’s the point?  The point is that MOST businesses do indeed possess some degree of uniqueness. The important thing to remember is HOW to position that uniqueness to their best clients and prospects. Businesses can no longer afford to market themselves as unique the same way everyone else does – prospective clients simply won’t believe it.  Think about how many times in a day or week you see and hear marketing campaigns built on saving time and money.  It’s old, it’s worn out and it isn’t believable, even if it were true.

In general, all similar businesses are, well… similar.  All audiences believe that and telling them differently won’t convince them otherwise.  The proof of the pudding, as the saying goes, is in the tasting.

What is the answer then?  The answer is incredibly simple.  So simple in fact that it risks being scoffed at.

Each business has one or two things that will be ever-so-slightly different than their competitors when it comes to their target market.  You need to leverage that difference in a way that has both real and potential value to your best clients. The eureka moment comes when you integrate it as part of your brand.  Make sure you visit our articles on Branding for ideas on how to do that.



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