There are many times when differences are a good thing. When you are trying to promote your small, start-up, home-based business and are competing with similar businesses—finding the ways that you and your business are different from all the rest can be the very thing to help you build success. But, how can you identify what makes you and/or your business different?
Look at areas of your business and your service delivery and look for places where you might be able to provide a unique service or bring something special or different to your customers or clients. Perhaps you can offer delivery or something extra. Maybe you have more flexible work hours or work on evenings or weekends. Consider what other businesses in your field are doing and look for ways that your business is different.
You might have special talents, skills, or work experience that you bring to your business that other companies don’t have. I have a friend who is in real estate now, but she spent nearly two decades operating her own hair salon. This gives her a unique perspective, all sorts of personal and business experience, and helps prospects and clients identify her as someone “different” from the ordinary real estate agent.
Of course, different doesn’t always mean “good” or “better”—put some thought into whether the things you’ve identified about yourself and your business are differences that will help or hinder your business. For example, you might think that the fact that you are a stay-at-home parent of six, who is also home-schooling, and running a new business is a great thing (and it is), but as a marketing approach, others might wonder at how available you will be for their business needs.
Finding a way to stand out from the crowd is the challenge of any business—large or small. Figure out what makes your business and you special and unique, and use those differences to promote your growing business.
See Also: Identifying What You Need to Work On and Tapping Into Your Intuition for Your Home Business