Competition in business can get pretty harsh sometimes. Different brands competing in the same market offer similar products, often with indistinguishable features. Lesser-known brands or products without key differences from the rest of the competition are often could not thrive in the market.
We list 5 tips to make your business stand out. It covers the importance of having strong values at the heart of your business and why they are effective at creating an affinity with your target audience. You can adjust these tips to match the product and/or your service you provide.
Find Your Unique Value and Make It Visible
With so many competitors in the market, make sure your business can deliver different values to your customer. Researching your market and competitor’s product would help you figure out what niche you can fill. It can also help you better understand your product and ways you can improve it.
After you figure out your product’s unique value, the next step is to bring that value and present it in your product. You want your customer to grasp that value as soon as they see your product. You can represent that value in your marketing campaign. That way, potential consumers would associate your product with that value.
Have A Clear Mission
In our previous blog post, we asserted the importance of having a clear mission for your endeavor. A clear mission helps your customers to better understand the value of your brand. Think of it this way; how can my product help my customer? Why do they need my product? What do we want to achieve as a brand?
Seeing that your brand mission is the core of your business, make sure your customers glimpse it through your product or service. They could reflect it in your actual product, or they could apply it in the entire purchasing process. Either way, it should be clear enough for your customer to experience.
Treat Your Customer Like a King
There is an old saying, “customer is king”. It translates to giving them the very best you could offer. This phrase emphasizes the importance of customers in business. If your brand mission is the backbone of your business, the customers should be the heart. They should be the focal point of your enterprise. Your business activities should revolve around the “king”.
There are several ways you can please your king. First, clarify who exactly your target market is. As some products are more preferable in certain demographics than others, you need to tailor your product according to their preferences. Next, reward your loyal customers. Treat repeat customers with free upgrades, coupons, or discounts as gratitude to their loyalty.
Afterwards, address all your customers with utmost respect. Customers old and new expect you to be nice and friendly with them, not to mention helpful when they encounter some issues. Make them feel like a part of your business they really are, not just numbers in your annual report spreadsheet. Remember, customers are king.
Be Honest - People Crave Human Connections
Companies used to gain trust by being faceless; that would not work anymore in today’s business environment. Nowadays, customers want to know who you are. Gone are the days when companies can be unreasonably secretive towards their customers.
Customers would trust companies they can resonate with. If they found something they feel emotionally attached to in a business, that business would not only gain a loyal customer—it would gain a tribe that holds the ability to grow bigger. This is precisely why it’s important to flaunt your business’s unique value—so your potential client would see something they may feel connected to.
Gold Standard Customer Service
Maintaining excellent customer service throughout the entire process, from browsing, purchasing, and all the way to after sales service, could be the key for customers’ loyalty towards your business. To make sure you can offer an over-the-top service to your customer, you can follow these steps:
- Respond swiftly. It is crucial to respond to your customer as quickly as possible, especially when the help your customer requires is time sensitive. That way, the said customer would feel prioritized.
- Familiarize your customer. Customers love it when you can remember them, especially repeat customers. That makes them feel connected to a human, not just a business entity.
- Fix your mistakes. Taking responsibility for your mistakes is important, especially when you are running a business. You will lose trust from your customer if you cannot handle the problem quickly and precisely.
- Always listening. Sometimes customers can see a flaw in your operation faster than you. Always listen to their feedback, critics, or suggestions.
- Think long term. A loyal customer begins with a happy customer. Also, a happy customer may help your business grow, bringing in more new customers by telling their friends about their experience with you.
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