Not so long ago, the core strategy of business was to find more efficient ways to manufacture a product so that better margins could be achieved and we could sell more to the consumer.

As time went on more and more businesses entered the market with their versions or alternatives of those core products and now the consumer had choice.

This concept of choice quickly transformed into “Noise” and business owners struggled to stand out above that noise.  Here’s where Finding your Difference or your USP (Unique Selling Proposition) has become pivotal in how you grow your business and put a dent in that noise.

Finding Your Difference Can Be Hard

Sometimes it’s hard to identify where you’re different.  I’ve worked with so many businesses over the years and the conversation usually starts like this…

• But I just sell jewelry…
• I’m just another coach…
• We’re your standard engineering company…
• We do software… like so many others…

But you know… every single one of those businesses did something that was unique to them. Something that nobody else in the marketplace did quite like them. We just had to UNCOVER it.

Now, I’m being deliberate about the use of the words UNCOVER… because there is a tendency to consider simply CREATING or INVENTING a point of difference.

And you know, this just doesn’t work… Inventing Uniqueness rings false with customers. They can smell it. And, if they sense any insincerity… they’ll quickly dismiss you and your business and move on to the next candidate for their precious time and money.  

The trick as Seth Godin expressed perfectly in his book The Purple Cow is to Choose to be Remarkable!

Choose to find the thing that you do… Your Way  but that also makes a difference to your Customers.

Now, let me reassure you here…. EVERYONE has something remarkable about them. You just have to be brave enough and dig deep enough to extract it. Then you have to decide if you are willing to do what it takes to harness that remarkableness!

Let’s listen to Seth Godin himself speak about being Remarkable…

Wanna See My Socks?

I love that story about Little Miss Matched  who create sets of 3 mismatched socks for 12 Year old girls so they can start a conversation with… “wanna see my socks?”.

The socks might be ordinary… but the story behind them is extraordinary!

That’s the concept of Remarkable in Action!

Find Your "Remarkable"

Over the years, I’ve worked with so many businesses who hesitate to step forward and embrace the uniqueness that they bring to their business.

In fact, I even had one client who didn’t want anyone to know that they were working with a marketer in case their customers would think they were trying to manipulate them.  In the end, they realised that the process of marketing was to identify how best to serve their customers and not the other way around.

The 'How To' of Being Remarkable

Seth has a great blog post on the How to of Being Remarkable. Let me share two key messages from this article…

Be Remarkable about Something People Care about…

and remember...

Remarkable doesn't mean remarkable to you!

It means remarkable to ME! Am I going to make a remark on it? Are you doing something that’s worth remarking on?

Spend a moment and think about meeting people for the first time and describing what you do and that the people you are talking to really want to know all about you.

So where do you get excited?

Do they get excited too?

What’s the bit that makes you proud?

If you were to finish this sentence ‘I love seeing when…. ‘ what would it say?

Can all these be clues to your own ‘remarkableness’?

"Find the Clues to Your Remarkableness. Use Them. Bring them to Market with you."

Finding your Remarkable is about Creating a strategy that will make your business thrive.

So, Choose to be Remarkable!  Choose to position yourself in the marketplace and stand out from all the rest.  Be remarkable in your product or service. Be remarkable in how it’s delivered.

"But most of all...be remarkable in WHO you are and WHY you are"

Being remarkable is not just for the Apple’s of this world. It’s for every business no matter how large or how small. It’s a critical component of Great Marketing… Of Successful Marketing.

And if you haven’t discovered yours then reach out let's see if I can help you find it!