Graham McGregor: Making your business stand out from the crowd

There are many ways to make your business stand out from the crowd. Photo / iStock

I think that many of us in have products or services that are very good but are not enjoying the level of sales that we know we should be getting.

So what's the solution to getting more people to know your business in a way that makes them keen to spend their hard earned money with you?

One answer to this question comes from my good friend and marketing expert Andrew Griffiths.

Andrew recommends to all his clients that they create a 'Big, Bold, Statement 'about their business.

Here is a good example:

Andrew was contacted by a restaurant in Port Douglas a number of years ago. It was called Mango Jam and was a faceless restaurant that was struggling. There was nothing special about it that made it stand out and encourage potential clients to come and try them out.

The owner asked Andrew for help and he suggested they create a big bold statement for their restaurant.

The first thing Andrew did was survey every hotel and around 1,000 tourists in Port Douglas.

He asked the people what kinds of restaurants are lacking in the town. What is not here that should be here?

The over whelming feedback was that there were no family restaurants in Port Douglas. So Andrew told his client. Your big bold statement is that you are now 'the number 1 family restaurant in Port Douglas'.

Andrew got some people to come in and teach the staff how to interact with families and children, they made fantastic colouring books, the staff dressed much more colourfully and they added kid's menus.

And doing this literally transformed the business overnight.

First of all everyone knew what they were and the local hotels could recommend Mango Jam to families. If there was a family, mum and dad and two kids standing at reception and they say 'where should we eat tonight? The response from the staff was simple. 'Oh the best family restaurant in town is Mango Jam'.

Sales exploded and they became very popular. And shortly after that they began winning awards as the best family restaurant in North Queensland.

The real goal is to do something that makes you stand out from the crowd in a positive way.

Andrew's own claim to fame is that he is 'AUSTRALIA'S #1 SMALL BUSINESS & ENTREPRENEURIAL AUTHOR WITH 12 BOOKS NOW SOLD IN OVER 60 COUNTRIES'. Very clear and easy to remember.

When your goal is to make your business stand out from the crowd there are many ways to do this.

Here's a fun example:

I was chatting with a sign writer and he told me about a client who specialises in repairing windows.

This client decided to call himself 'The Window Doctor' and the sign writer created some wonderful images on his van.

It showed a doctor in a white coat fixing windows. The window repair person also wears a white medical coat while on the job.

The 'Window Doctor' name, the eye catching images and the white coat all make this business stand out positively and they are doing very well.

Let me finish with one last comment on 'standing out from the crowd'.

I received an email from the owner of a very successful engineering firm in Christchurch. And he made some fascinating comments about marketing in his email...

"I regularly send out letters to prospective customers that break every rule in the book, pink envelopes, coffee sachets etc, no letter head, scripted text, lots of highlighting and always a couple of stories to highlight a point. Customers look for them and everyone gets opened. Who says you can't be radical in a very conservative market?? I believe, look at what everyone else is doing and do the opposite. Be brave and stand out from the crowd. My gang think I am nuts, but we get results with very healthy growth each year, even in a diminishing market. One thing that I have learned, if the team think it is over the top, then we just have to do it because most people have a sense of humour and will notice and remember."

The real goal here is to do something that makes you stand out from the crowd in a positive way.

"Word of mouth is the best medium of all." - William Bernbach

Action Exercise:

What can you do in the next 30 days to make your business stand out from the crowd?

Graham McGregor is a consultant specialising in memorable marketing. You can download his 396 page 'Unfair Business Advantage' Ebook at no charge from www.theunfairbusinessadvantage.com.