Standing out in the crowd

By Linda Julian

It's tough to stand out from your competition and keep great clients plus attract new ones.  And it doesn't help when professionals so often put their marketing communication efforts  -  and dollars  -  into making themselves part of the crowd rather than standing out.

Too often, professional service firms build their marketing campaigns around "sameness" messages like:

• we've been doing this a long time
• our people are highly qualified
• our professionals are friendly and helpful
• we are big, successful, and growing
• we have a great reputation
• we give great service.

Even if these communications get through and their messages make any impact, they only serve to make you and your firm part of the crowd, rather than stand out.

After all:

• many firms and professionals can claim long histories in practice
• size doesn't matter to everyone, and there are many big and successful firms around
• no professional would ever boast inadequate qualifications or a poor reputation
• who would offer unfriendly, unhelpful, sloppy service ?

If you want distinguish yourself from capable competitors, think about how what you do makes a difference to clients.  Focus your messages around themes like:

• business problems you solve
• business opportunities you realise
• risks you reduce
• unique experience you offer
• your techniques or technologies which differ from alternatives
• return on investment in your services which you deliver
• results you promise
• differences your clients will notice in dealing with you
• value you create.

Avoid sameness with messages built on these themes which help prospective clients understand why you stand out from the crowd.