Set Your Business Apart
Entrepreneurs are living in a crowded marketplace. Even in a time when businesses are struggling, startups are emerging to satisfy new demands. In this climate, businesses need to stand out from the pack to attract customers, but many are unsure how to go about it. Here are six simple but powerful strategies for making a memorable impact.
1. Fast Telecommunications Technology
Whether it takes the form of e-commerce, sales force management, or teleconferencing, many business processes are going online. This requires a vast number of diverse devices and integrated computers to be networked together successfully, and that’s extremely difficult to accomplish with low-bandwidth communications systems like vintage phone systems. The advent of advanced systems like the 5G core network is helping create the smoother connectivity necessary to support this emerging Internet of Things (IoT). Research options for communications infrastructure upgrades that your business might benefit from.
2. Excellent Customer Service
Contacting customer service can be a grueling experience. Going through an endless series of questions from a robot voice just to get rerouted to a sterile call center is a great way to alienate consumers. It’s also unnecessary since your social media pages come with messenger apps and that’s where customers tend to prefer engaging with businesses. Another big mistake that modern companies make is the overuse of chatbots. They can be great for responding to simple queries, but frustrating if a problem is complicated (as most are). It’s no wonder that 86% of customers prefer live operators to “virtual” help. Strongly consider giving your customer service the human touch.
3. First-Class Products
A recent study by FirstInsight revealed that consumers consider quality over price when 53% to 38% when making a purchasing choice. The reason for this lies in perceived value. People are willing to pay more if they know they’re getting a high-quality product that will be a benefit to them. Whether “quality” means using the best quality materials in your physical products or going the extra mile to provide skilled and empathetic service, it’s usually a good idea to compete in terms of value rather than cost.
4. A Strong Web Presence
Online visibility is critical to outreach, yet research has shown that around one-third of businesses don’t even have a website. The ones that do often fail to update their sites regularly or have clunky, kitschy or outdated pages. Build your branding around your social media sites, since that’s where most of your customers will be. Post updates like videos showcasing new offerings and keep your blog entries current. It’s also important to construct a distinctive iconography for your band using science-backed methods like color psychology. In other words, let the sophistication of your web presence speak for itself.
5. Authenticity
What does it mean for a business to be authentic? It’s about staying true to your vision and being something that people can count on. The first part means not letting the pursuit of profit operate to the exclusion of the core values of your company and the mark you intended to make when you started it. The second involves making consistency, honestly, and reliability a visible extension of those values. Customer loyalty is a two-way street. People will never choose to embrace an organization that doesn’t show a commitment to them in return.
6. Sustainability
Possibly the most meaningful way that your business can carve out a niche in the market is by helping to make the world a better place. The numbers support this idea: Pew research shows that an overwhelming majority of Americans support some action to safeguard the environment, even if disagreements linger about what form it should take. This means that business owners have many options for tailoring their response to the call for environmental responsibility to their own company image. Using upcycled materials is a popular idea, but so is going off the grid with green energy and taking a more holistic and less wasteful approach to infrastructure.
Setting yourself apart from the competition isn’t just a good idea, it’s a necessary one. These six tips should help you start building a unique brand.
