If you want to stand out and rise above your competitors, it will pay for you to do business differently than your competitors do. 

 

Look for gaps in your competitors’ business model to set yourself apart. Find out who you serve and narrow down your niche and find out what makes you different from the rest. For example, you can research and identify gaps where other businesses aren’t meeting the needs of your target audience. 

 

Don’t forget about thinking small when it comes to gaps in your market. Since the more specific your market or niche is, the more likely it is that you can target your audience effectively. 

 

You should also look for examples of someone in your industry successfully filling that gap. And if someone within your industry has done a good job of filling that gap, you can use their strategy as a basis for you to build upon within your current business model. 

 

At this point, if you are still wondering how you can find your differentiator, there are four things that can help you find it:

 

When it all comes down to it, find what makes you different from the rest. 

 

Feedback is important, and you should always gather and use feedback to grow your business. Through gathering feedback, you can see what is and what is not working for your customers, and use this feedback to improve upon your current practices. 

 

You can get feedback through reviews, customer satisfaction surveys, and testimonials. Feedback doesn’t just help your company grow, but it also provides benefits for both you and your customers. 

 

The benefits of collecting customer feedback include: 

 

With proper feedback collection in place, you won’t be wasting or spending time or money trying to figure what works (or doesn’t work) for your business or customer base. 

 

Not only does customer feedback improve customer satisfaction, but it also increases the retention rate for your current customer base. 

 

Last, but not least, you should ask for feedback at every stage of your customer’s journey. 

 

 

3.     Research & Understand Your Industry 

Researching and understanding your industry is a crucial aspect of any good marketing plan. 

Start out with competitive research, which involves identifying your competitors and seeing what their strengths and weaknesses are when it comes to their products and services. This also helps you pinpoint industry trends you may not have seen beforehand. 

Conducting competitive research will help you better understand your market, help you improve upon your marketing strategies, find gaps in your market, and help you set the stage and plan for the future of your business. 

Using tools to social listening and software that monitors your competitors’ traffic and performance  can help you better understand your competition. 

You can use social listening to see what your competitors are up to, like keeping track of mentions they are getting across various platforms, and becoming familiar with the voice they have within your industry. 

You should also explore the tactics your competitors are using to drive traffic to their websites. There are tools, such as Alexa, you can use to better understand your competitors traffic and SEO. 

By using these tools, you will gain better insights into what your competitors are doing to market their business and how you can improve your own digital marketing strategy to rise above your competitors. 

And, if you are looking for other places to conduct market research, Google, email, and social media are great places to look. 

Ultimately, researching and understanding your industry will help you better understand your customer’s motivations, how to better position your brand, and maintain a stronger pulse on your industry. 

 

4.     Build Quality Relationships & Content 

To set your business apart from your competitors, you should focus on building and fostering quality relationships. Along with building those quality relationships, you will want to make sure to engage consistently with your audience. 

When it comes to building content, make sure you are staying true to your brand, being genuine, and tailoring your content to the consumer. Not only will you want to build your brand’s foundation on quality relationships and content, but you will want to also build a unique culture where people will grow to know, like, and trust your business. 

Make sure you’re building a relationship with your customers and clients from the beginning, along with giving them a reason to choose you and keep choosing you. 

For example, you could offer a rewards program that covers all areas of your business, which could ensure your customers are loyal to you for years to come. 

Social media can be valuable in building customer relationships because it’s a place where you can interact with, and show you care about, your customers. 

By using social media, you can connect with your customers by resharing their posts or asking them what they want to see from you.  

Some things you can do to spruce up your social media presence are:

• Find the social media platform that aligns with your audience 
• Have or create a consistent aesthetic 
• Keep a close eye on your social media analytics 
• Create a place where visitors and customers can add their feedback 

In building quality content and relationships you will be able to not only better understand your audience, but also stand out among and rise above your competition. 

Now Step Up & Rise Above The Competition 

Now that we have gone over the various ways you can stand out among your competitors, let’s get into how you can actually apply the advice from this article to rise above the competition. 

When applying the various tactics listed here, determine how you can deliver a product or service your competitors are not delivering. Also, be there for your customers, not just before they have completed their purchase but afterwards, too. Stay in touch and be present if your customer starts to face any roadblocks or has any questions. 

Strive to give the best experience to your customers and be consistent. And, as your brand grows, remember to respond to industry changes and customer needs, so you can stay relevant and ahead of your competition. 

At the end of the day, dare to think differently-- because, when you do, you can stand out and rise above your competitors.