One Easy Way to Make Your Brand Stand Out in a Sea of Noise

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There are many businesses out there screaming and shouting for your customer’s attention. Your brand needs to stand out in a sea of noise, but screaming louder is not the solution. Instead, you need to show the world that you have something unique to offer, something that only you can give them.

Give people a reason to care

To build a successful and sustainable brand, you have to be able to offer something new, exciting, unique, or different. You can’t expect to grow your business if what you’re offering is just like everyone else in your industry. You’re not setting yourself up for success by doing what all your competitors are doing. You need to give people a reason to care about you and a reason to pick you. You have to do something no one else is doing.

Pilates for Runners

For example, there are a lot of Pilates instructors out there. So when my wife wanted to open a Pilates studio, she looked around at what everyone else was doing and decided that to stand out, she had to do something radically different. She chose to be the only Pilates studio in Cincinnati for runners. She named her studio Pilates for Runners, and all of her classes were designed to help people become stronger and more efficient runners.

By offering something that no one else was doing, her brand stood out in the crowded Pilates space. She didn’t have to shout louder than everyone else; she just had to have this one thing that she could claim that no one else could. She was the only Pilates studio just for runners.

One easy way to stand out in a sea of noise

One easy way to make your brand stand out in a sea of noise is to create an onliness statement. Your onliness statement is a short but powerful brand asset. It is a statement of something that you do that no one else can claim. To create your onliness statement, fill in the blanks:

I am the only _______________ that _______________.

The first blank is your category (yoga instructor, pie shop, graphic artist). The second blank is your radical differentiator, the one thing that you do (or the way you do it) that no one else can claim.

If you can’t come up with one unique thing you do, it’s time to do a little research on your competitors. List everyone who can make the same claim and then start positioning yourself away from them.

Why this little statement is so powerful

• It forces you to differentiate. If you can’t think of something that only you can claim, then you might have to adjust your business strategy until you can.
• It sets you apart. It’s a simple statement, but it clearly defines how your brand isn’t like all the others. It makes you stand out amongst all the noise, without shouting louder.
• It shows people that they get something unique from you. It could be a particular product or service, or a different approach to the work. Your onliness statement makes it very clear that only you can give them this thing in this way.
• It gives people a reason to believe in you. People know when you’re doing things like everyone else, and frankly, they won’t care. Your onliness statement gives them something to care about. People go out of their way to choose the things they care about.

Once you’ve come up with your onliness statement, start using it everywhere. Put it on your website, share it on your social media posts. Start showing people that you’re not like everyone else, that your brand is unique, and they’ll start choosing you more often.

Your call to action today is to create your onliness statement. After you do, feel free share it in the comments below or in our Facebook Group. It would be fun to see what you come up with!