Grant Gooding: Your wimpy brand needs to pick a fight
July 29, 2016 | Grant Gooding
Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this commentary are the author’s alone.
Think about your three biggest competitors. … Got ‘em?
Grant Gooding
Now, what do you say when a potential customer asks you why they should do business with you instead of them?
More often than not your response contains subjective and ineffective language. You say things like “x years in business, trusted leader, great customer service, quality, value, blah, blah, blah.”
Ever stop to think why they ask you that question?
Most people in business are highly competitive by nature, so why aren’t their businesses reflective of that competitive spirit? – Grant Gooding
The reason isn’t because they’re challenging you — it’s because they honestly don’t know. They don’t know because you look, sound and smell just like those other three competitors and they have no idea why you are different or why they should hire you.
I know what you’re thinking. “We are not like our competitors. We are much better …” and you can likely site five to 10 real-world examples of how you are better. If this is the case, then why does your pitch sound just like theirs? Why do you copy each other’s brochures? And why do your websites look like clones?
The answer is because you are a wimp.
Probably not you personally, but your company is almost certainly a wimp.
Most people in business are highly competitive by nature, so why aren’t their businesses reflective of that competitive spirit? Most “competitors” act more like 13-year-old best friends who watch the same shows (training); copy each other’s speech (industry lingo); and mimic each other’s behavior (marketing), catchphrases (messaging) and clothes (website) rather than acting like competitive enterprises that are vying for winning business to stay alive.
So how do you escape the homogeneity and not be a wimp? You pick a fight.
Picking a fight forces you to take a position and stick to it.
Picking a fight and owning a position not only shows industry leadership, it shows vision and confidence. You will begin to attract the right people who agree with your position and they will fight vigorously on your side.
Here are five steps on how you pick a fight and WIN:
1. Establish a hypothesis of where your competition is failing its customers.
2. Validate that hypothesis with consumer research and confirm the need.
3. Develop objective language that confirms the need and back it up with numbers.
4. Solidify your position and create a stark contrast from the rest of your industry by developing expertise and consistency in that position across all of your training, speech, marketing, messaging and packaging.
5. Pick a fight with your competition and call them out.
Demand to be better, have a chip on your shoulder, stand up for yourself and pick a fight with your competitors. If you do, you will earn the respect of your team, your colleagues and start winning over your customers.
But you can’t win if you don’t pick a fight.
Grant Gooding is a brand strategist & CEO of Lenexa-based Proof Positioning, a firm that uses consumer insights to show business owners how to build a powerful brand by knowing, not guessing. Grant is passionate about educating in the areas of entrepreneurship and brand philosophy.
2016 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Raaxo takes shape after pivot from Aphrodite Bra Co’s body scan concept
Despite its use of body-mapping technology, Aphrodite Bra Company wasn’t the right fit for customers’ needs, said Carlanda McKinney, founder of the newly rebooted custom intimates company Raaxo. “Aphrodite had been stuck in the starting-up space,” she said. “We’d never really gotten enough sales or enough traction to say, ‘We’re launched,’ or, ‘We’re in business.’…
Serial entrepreneur leverages past success for Bridge Space coworking project
Bridge Space will be more than a coworking office, Ben Rao said. He hopes it will be the heart of Lee’s Summit’s blossoming entrepreneurial ecosystem. “My No. 1 goal is to accelerate entrepreneurs’ success,” said Rao, Bridge Space founder and a serial entrepreneur himself. “It’s an opportunity for me to build something that would make…
KC Mayor Sly James: FCC must focus on digital inclusion, preserve net neutrality
Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in the commentary are the author’s alone. Startland News welcomes opinion pieces from community leaders on subjects that affect the entrepreneurial community. Email news[at]startlandnews.com for more information. In Kansas City, we have a vibrant technology and entrepreneurial community. Our Smart City program is among the best in the nation, distinguished…
KC mom’s humble entrepreneurial journey draws on healing power of creativity
Huddled in her parents’ basement, between the cribs of her crying twin babies, Keliah Smith began to draw. She was unemployed and feeling emotionally drained. The relationship with her children’s father had soured. Her escape: the stylus and smartphone in her hands. The Kansas City mother drew what she didn’t see in the mirror, she…