{image from Kelly Made}
This is Part 4 in this a series by this month’s Special Guest Blogger – Meagan Visser. You can read Part 1 here, Part 2 here, and Part 3 here.
Have you tried brainstorming creative ways to stand out from your competition, but it’s just not coming to you?
Do you keep going back to what they’re doing that you like & you just can’t seem to be able to figure out how to do it differently?
Do you feel like they’re doing everything right & there’s really no other way to do it differently than how they are already doing it?
Well I’ve got a solution for you that will help you do things just like your competitors but in a different way. In a way that will help you to not have to worry about focusing on them so much, but focusing on someone else.
No New Ideas
When you look at your competitors, sometimes all you see is how they’re doing things right & it’s difficult to think of how you can take what they’re doing & do it differently with your business.
It seems like there’s really no other way to do it especially since most businesses in your niche are all doing things the same way.
The problem is that you know if you copy everyone else you know you’ll just blend in & you’ll feel guilty for copying them & not staying true to yourself.
You’re Not Used To Thinking Outside The Box
We all want to be unique.
For some it’s easier than for others. Some just ooze personality & uniqueness. Some just go against the grain & never have a problem standing out, but what about those that don’t have that quality?
It doesn’t matter if it’s not your natural tendency to stand out in a crowd… you can learn to.
The problem is that you’re not used to thinking outside of the box. Especially in areas like this. You know that businesses are successful because they do certain things right. That’s evident because so many successful businesses are all doing these things.
The trick to standing up in the sea of sameness is to also do the “right†things, but do them in a different way.
It’s easy to get stuck on what everyone else is doing & it’s difficult to get those “right ways†out of your head sometimes. Perhaps all you need is a little free time to explore what other businesses, totally unrelated to yours, are doing right.
So what about forgetting your competition all together for the moment & focus on someone that isn’t competition for ideas?
Look Outside Your Niche
You can gain so much inspiration from looking to businesses outside of your niche.
They too are doing all of these “right†things, these specific business practices that are bringing them success.
How are they doing it? What are they doing in their niche that is different from how everyone in your niche is doing it?
Once you can answer that question & once you’ve gotten some ideas from them, go with it. Apply those things to your business & most of the time it will be different from what the competition in your niche is doing because you’ve immolated someone outside of your niche.
Let’s say your niche is Apricots & you decide to study the completely different niche of Plums. Once you apply what you learn from the Plum niche to the Apricot niche you become the Pluot & stand out among all the Apricots. Make sense?
Find A Role Model
When looking outside your niche for inspiration, you need to focus on finding a business that you want to follow that is successful & appeals to you not only visually, but in its message, marketing, & interaction with fans.
Study their design, their colors, the fonts they use together, & where they use their graphics.
Pay attention to how they engage their fans. Do they have contests? Do they run challenges? Are they responding to comments?
How are they marketing their businesses? What times of the day are they most active on social media?
There are a lot of questions to ask yourself & a lot of things too look at when studying & learning from other businesses. It takes time, but it’s a good investment of your time. You’ll be more successful if you can learn to differentiate yourself from everyone else.
The point is, different niches do things a little differently. If you look to another business, totally unrelated to you, you’re more likely to forget about the way everyone in your niche is doing things & find a good way to do what you want in a different way.
What business are you going to look to for inspiration that’s outside of your niche?
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