How To Grow Your Business In A Crowded Market

Do you want to attract customers who WANT to work with you?

And do you want to be the first person that crops up in someones mind when they need that thing that you offer? And do you want your business to stand out in a crowded marketplace without having to lower your price?

Today I’m going to talk about some really easy things you can do to grow your business by helping you to stand out in a crowded marketplace!

Number 1: You will need to tease out your uniqueness!

And we’re going to talk about your unique value proposition, or your UVP.

When you want to stand out against everyone else in your marketplace you need to get very clear about the value you can offer to your ideal paying customer. Now don’t get confused here by pricing. Here we’re talking about VALUE. And your unique value should be able to quickly put across three very important things:

1. Exactly HOW does your offering solve their problems. Think about what it is that you DO that’s different to everyone else?
2. What can your paying customers expect if they purchase your offering? - What is it that you DO for them that goes above and beyond everybody else?
3. What are the advantages for your customers who decide to buy your offerings instead of your competitions offering?

It’s so important to differentiate your offering from your competition with at least one thing that’s unique only to you and that it adds REAL value.

Number 2: Double down on their pain points

And this is one that many business owners forget. We get so caught up sometimes on feeling passionate about the offers we’ve created that it’s easy to overlook the gap, or the problem we are trying to solve for those who are going to invest in us.

So double down on working out what their pain points are. How are your potential customers thinking and feeling BEFORE they’ve used your product and how will the feel AFTER they’ve used it.

An example of this is when you’ve just used the bathroom and that moment when you reach and see the loo roll is empty. Or perhaps you’ve used a paper that feels really scratchy. You feel cranky, and I’m not going to explain why! So, you just want the uncomfortable feelings to go away!

Now think about the ads on TV, they connect with us by talking about our uncomfortable feelings of using a rough toilet paper, or that feeling of running out altogether. Then, you see the person purchase this new kind of toilet paper, its quilted, its as soft as a brand-new puppy AND its environmentally friendly. And you see that person on TV use the paper and then the sun comes out, the clouds go away and they are feeling happy again.

So, you get my drift on that. My point is, you NEED to work out WHO you are talking to, and HOW you stand out in your style of messaging.

Number 3: .What Makes You Unique?

Remember, like with toilet roll manufacturers there’s very little in the marketplace these days that’s truly unique and its highly likely someone somewhere in the world is working on something very similar to you and most of the time it’s a complete coincidence.

Now I’m going to go back to my toilet rolls example as many manufacturers are making essentially what is the same product, and it does the same job. It’s not unique. And what I see most small business owners doing is they see a similar product to theirs and then they panic, they think “oh no I’m going to have to go back to the drawing board and invent something new, and THIS time I’m going to make it unique!”

Lets look at what the toilet paper manufacturers DO. They reframe their offering so that theirs is unique. Even if it’s basically the same product - they reframe it. And this is what you’ll need to do, you just need to reframe what the word “unique” actually means.

I’m going to make that clearer by giving you an example, so say you’re selling toilet rolls like everyone else and you see that no one has claimed to be the best, the strongest, the longest, the softest, the rarest and so on.

If you see a gap in there then go and claim it!

If you’re confident that you sell the softest toilet roll on the block then shout it from the rooftops. The key here is to work out what makes you unique from everybody else.

Number 4: Create a Brand Strap Line

Turn that pain point that you’ve identified into a clever strap line for your product.

For example, Andrex use ‘soft, strong and very long’ because it plays to our pain points of wanting soft toilet paper that doesn’t break apart when you use it, and you want value for money so you get lots of sheets on every roll.

Number 5: Why Would They WANT To Buy Your Product?

A really quick tip but remember that we customers buy what we WANT and not necessarily what we NEED. We might need to stock up on toilet roll and yes, the scratchy rough paper will do the job BUT, we WANT the soft quilted rolls with the embossed paw prints on each sheet.

So ask yourself ‘why would my customers WANT to buy my product if they don’t necessarily need it? ‘

Number 6: Avoid Price Wars!

In crowded marketplaces there’s always a ton of other businesses offering something similar. You’ll come across bigger competitors and sometimes superior offerings to yours, and some of your offerings may even look the same (think about those toilet rolls and how crowded that marketplace is!)

Ok, what happens if you don’t differentiate yourself from those other businesses around you?

You know what, it leaves your customers to make a decision based on what they see. And they’ll either do one of two things: they’ll make a decision based on the strength of your brand or …they’ll make a final decision based on price. And when you’re in that situation don’t fall into price dropping, price wars, or discounting. You’ve all seen it happen when large companies get into very public price wars.

One lowers their price, then the other does, then the other does. And they do this to the point that it affects their profitability and customers can see this a mile off and its not good for their brands. So, THAT is another reason to double down and focus on HOW and WHERE you’re different and avoid under pricing.

So, remember, your Unique Value is the primary reason someone should WANT to buy from you!