Are You Any different From The Next guy?

Are you any different from the next guy? When I'm out and doing things other than business, I still have my "marketing eyes" on.  Can't help it, marketing has become my life.  I get so excited when I see a small business do something different and unique that catches my eye.  Unfortunately, those occasions are very rare.  I drove down a street by a local beach with all the typical tourist trappings and not one store stood out, stood above the rest or even caught my eye.  I have to hold myself back from going into the shop and yelling at the top of my lungs "Do something different!"  It really isn't that difficult.

Stand above the crowd, be different, that is what attracts.  I guess one could say that its summer, its the beach and people are already there but are they spending?  Are they buying what your selling and  are they buying it from you?  They also have a very short window in which to make their profits because they are seasonal which is all the more reason to be "special".

I even see it with social media.  I must receive at least ten tweets a day, emails from all sources and webinars on optimization.  And its not  even a very interesting subject, necessary but dull.  Where is the creativity in these updates, tweets, and emails?  None of them pop out at me, make me want to read on and most often, the information is just repeated. 

Is creativity gone?  Lost forever?  I recently created a whole new marketing campaign for one of my clients and it was filled with unique ideas and yes, some times I was up at 2:00 AM when they would pop into my head and I would have to get up, write it down and try to go back to sleep but these ideas are unique and none of their competitors are doing.  I am very lucky that they are an amazing client and leave me to be creative and are willing to go outside the box for ideas.  But once I came up with a great idea, the rest just followed. 

So if you have a small business stop and think.  Walk around the block and walk past your  shop, does your business draw your eyes, does it look like every other business on the street?  What do your ad's look like, every other ad on the page?  Does your talking logo describe in a clever way what you do? 
I know this can be difficult, especially when you are busy running the business but it is necessary to keep a new, steady flow of clients in your door. 

If you feel your creative candle has gone out?  If you can't come up with one more way to brag about your widget, then you need a marketing professional.  But its important to keep things fresh and unique.  Have fun with it.  If your personality is bright and bubbly, then your marketing should have some of that.  If you are quiet and reserved but fantastic at what you do, then think of a soft approach to your marketing.  You created your business which means its an extension of you and that should stand out.

And remember, if you do the same old thing the same old way, what do you get?  So now is the time to change.

Until next
time.....

Start From Scratch
860.383.4095
www.sfroms.com
backtobasicmarketing.blogspot.com