As an entrepreneur, it’s important to keep an eye on your competition and find ways to set yourself apart from others in your industry. Especially in a saturated market, it’s vital to stand out with a strong personal brand.
To achieve this, you’ll want to define what makes you and your brand unique. If you’re looking to do this right, follow this advice from the members of Young Entrepreneur Council who shared eight key steps to take when trying to hone in on your niche.
Young Entrepreneur Council members offer advice on how to figure out what makes your brand unique.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.
1. Develop Your ‘Internet Voice’
Create an “internet voice” that reflects your brand. Some brands have honed in on having a witty internet presence, others have found success being slightly snarky and some are known for unending positivity. Whatever you choose, be consistent with it across all online platforms—your social media presence, website verbiage, digital ads, etc. Find a unique way to convey your message and run with it. – Leila Lewis, Be Inspired PR
2. Get Direct Feedback From Followers
It’s essential to have one-on-one conversations in a low-pressure environment that allows consumers to voice their opinions. Direct feedback from your customer base is a unique perspective and is something that can’t be replicated through a large-scale data collection process. It allows you to tailor solutions to these real-life testimonials. You may have a different view of who your market is, so by examining it from an external perspective, you can get a true picture of where you fit within the marketplace. – Justin Lefkovitch, Mirrored Media
3. Be Authentically You
I would say look to leverage your story, background or personal characteristics. As corny as it sounds, ultimately you are the only that is you in the world. That is an asset. People today are looking for authentic and relatable brands that they connect to. So being yourself in your content will help to attract the niche audience that resonates to that. – Rishi Sharma, Mallama
4. Share Your Story
To define what’s unique about your personal brand, tell its story. Marketers use storytelling to build an emotional connection with readers and encourage them to return. It humanizes your brand and makes users feel like they know the company for more than just selling products and services. In your brand story, incorporate your values and beliefs to show users what your company is all about and what it stands for. That’ll help them decide if it’s a company they want to invest in. – Stephanie Wells, Formidable Forms
5. Nail Down Your Value Proposition
One key step to take when trying to hone your niche and define what is unique about your personal brand in a saturated market is to focus heavily on your value proposition. A value proposition is a promise of value to be delivered from the brand to the customer. It boils down to why a customer would choose you over another company that offers the same service or product. You have established your company for a reason—to either offer the service or product at a better price, with better performance or offer more value in general. Even though you will be selling the same product or service, focusing on your value proposition will aim to differentiate you from the competition in a positive way. Be proud and showcase what makes your company unique and let that shine through in your branding. – Peter Boyd, PaperStreet Web Design
6. Ask Yourself What People Would Miss About You If You Weren’t There
To get to the heart of what makes you stand out from the competition, ask yourself this question: “If I stopped offering my services or products tomorrow, what would customers miss the most about working with me?” This question gets to the root of what makes your company unique. Make sure that your answers are reflected on your website, branding, social media and in the voice you use when connecting with your audience. Don’t hold back. Really let that part shine. – Rachel Beider, PRESS Modern Massage
7. Decide What You Stand For And Share Your Values
The most prominent brands know that it’s important to stand for something. That is, you have to have strong values and not be afraid to share them. It’s true that you will lose a portion of the audience to other brands, but when your values resonate with a group, you’ll find loyal customers for a lifetime. It’s much harder to get new customers than to keep loyal ones happy. Do an assessment of your own values as well as what values matter to your audience. Build your marketing content around this and push it forward to differentiate your brand. People will identify with your brand and, as a result, connect with it and become customers for the long run. – Blair Williams, MemberPress
8. Check How You Compare To Your Competitors
Sometimes the best way to find what makes you stand out is to look at your competitors. When reviewing your competitors’ products and services, try to figure out what they are missing that your brand has. Use this to your advantage and make it a major selling point in your marketing material and throughout your website. – John Brackett, Smash Balloon LLC
