What’s it take to really stand out? What’s unique about you?
Does it feel like lots of other people or businesses do exactly what you do?
And, you know you’ve got to stand out and set yourself apart somehow, but you can’t quite put your finger on how?
There are three things you’ve got that no one else has: your story, your client stories, and your unique solution.
Your Story
No one else has your story.
You’ve just got to dig in and figure out which elements of your story are related to your business and how to tell your story on your terms.
- What made you decide to start your business?
- What have the “turning points” been in your business?
- What keeps you going and excited to create your products or work with your clients?
Identify the lessons you’ve learned in life that relate to business and share more of them.
You don’t have to tell the parts of your story that you aren’t ready to share.
But start sharing the stories that will resonate with your audience.
“Great storytelling can make the difference between someone paying attention to you and someone tuning you out.” – Christopher S. Penn, Awaken Your Superhero
Your Client Stories
You solve problems. You transform your clients’ lives. How do you do that? What are the stories your clients tell about working with you?
That’s another element that’s completely unique to you.
Find ways to collect client stories and weave them into the way you share your business with the world.
The more unique the client stories, the more connection points you will create. Not everyone will identify with your story, so give them client stories they can relate to as well.
“It’s about how your business (or its products or services) exist in the real world: how people use your products–how they add value to people’s lives, ease their troubles, help shoulder their burdens, and meet their needs. Think in those terms when producing customer stories, case studies, or client narratives–so that people can relate to them. In that way, your content is not about “storytelling,” it’s about telling a true story well.” – Ann Handley, Content Rules
Your Unique Solution
What’s your solution to your client’s problems? How do you take them from where they are to where they want to be?
Create your own signature solution. Give it a unique name, define the steps in your process, and create acronyms and phrases that are yours.
That’s one more aspect of your business that’s totally unique to you.
“People are looking for a connection. Tell a good enough story about your brand and people will not only get invested, they’ll want to buy from you.” – John Michael Morgan, Brand Against the Machine
How Can You Apply This?
Share more. Listen more. Watch for the connection points that touch your audience and inspire them to see why your story matters to them, how you achieve results for your clients, and how those results affect the world.
Your stories are bigger than you and the world’s waiting to hear them.
“It is something that comes from inside of you and I firmly believe everyone can tell a story about anything they are passionate about.” – C. C. Chapman, Content Rules
Ready to start now? Share one of your stories in the comments.
I am blogging on behalf of Visa Business and received compensation for my time from Visa for sharing my views in this post, but the views expressed here are solely mine, not Visa’s. Visit http://facebook.com/visasmallbiz to take a look at the reinvented Facebook Page: Well Sourced by Visa Business. The Page serves as a space where small business owners can access educational resources, read success stories from other business owners, engage with peers, and find tips to help businesses run more efficiently. Every month, the Page will introduce a new theme that will focus on a topic important to a small business owner’s success. For additional tips and advice, and information about Visa’s small business solutions, follow @VisaSmallBiz and visit http://visa.com/business.
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Interesting topic. I believe, in business, it’s really important to know our competitive landscape. We must want to know the other players in our industry, their price points, their marketing messages, and how they position themselves. So that, we can learn to make our business stand out the crowd.
Great post
I agree, Okto, that’s useful information. I always start with what’s unique about me though, so I don’t get lost in that competitive sea. :)
The most surefire tip is to Do what you love, and love what you do.
To become an authority in your niche you have to be passionate about the subject.
This passion helped me grow my modest personal blog into a full-fledged website :)
Hey Howard, thanks for commenting. Being passionate about your subject makes a big difference.
I really like the “Your unique solution” point, developing a unique signature solution for a business is very powerful thing, but i think the “Your client stories” thing doesn’t work,
every body knows that client reviews on the company own site are fake and they have no credibility, besides even if the reviews were on totally different site, it takes just 1 bad comment to cancel all the other good comments,
a business reputation is fragile, one small bad turn can undo years of hard work of building a good reputation, also you do not want your business hanging on clients moods,
sometimes a client is happy, the other day you might get a little on him and he’s in a bad mood an he start writing shit about you in the back.
in my personal opinion i would stay away from the “Your clients stories” thing.
thank you for the ideas again,
Many thanks and best wishes!
Client success stories can be a powerful way to demonstrate how we can help.
Yes, many reviews are fake and people are jaded. I think that’s why it’s more than just a “review” or “testimonial” that we need – we need the stories and the in-depth case studies.
The challenge is that while I can tell my own story and share my solutions that work for me, not everyone is going to see themselves in that and resonate with it. But when I share client stories who’ve used my solutions and succeeded, there’s more of a chance that more people will see themselves in those stories and see how they can achieve the same results.
I agree. Giving your business a personal vibe will appeal more to your target audience.
Hi Michelle,
I guess people underestimate have much of an individual they really are. We all have lived very different lives making our stories unique. I forgot this last week – Thanks for reminding me how different I am from everyone else and how I can use this to my advantage.
Naomi