How to Start a Business at Home - Part 2

Have you started your business at home yet? Have you been dreaming about working for yourself, taking long vacations and handing the legacy to your kids one day? Then do it already! I'm tired of you people with the excuses and the late night snacks and early afternoon naps. Get up!

On this blog you will get the best marketing advice in New Jersey, and maybe even the country. I don't care if you have a job, collect welfare, have a ridiculous haircut or smoke menthol cigarettes; the bottom line is you are going to die one day, and if you don't fulfill your dreams, you will burn in hell. Regret is hell, and I'm here to help you avoid it.

In Part 1 I talked a lot about your website and how to get it ranked highly in search engines. Let's talk today about why people should buy from you; let's talk about differentiation.

Differentiation is how your product/service differs from your competitors'. Before you even think about marketing, you need to be differentiated from your competitors.

Let's get started:

1. Don't be another "me too" provider. I'm sure most of you have passed the now closed Italian restaurant on the BHP, Bella Rizzo's. I met the owner and his wife and they were very nice. However, the store front looked just like every other Italian shop. Why would anyone go in there when their pre-existening competitors already had a dominant foothold in the local  market? You take a look next time you drive by and tell me why they were different, and why you should've gone in. What they should have done was offer $10 Rush Hour Pizzas. This would have seduced people to vist at least once which would have increased their chances of coming back again by 36%. How many people passed everyday during rush hour? How many people went home and ordered pizza from a competitor? They were good people who went out of business because they failed to stand out.
2. Who is your competitor? Anyone selling a product/service is your competitor. I have the leading theories about competition economics which will be in textbooks one day. Study it here. Once you learn who your competitors are and how you can exploit their presence, you can brilliantly increase your customer base. If you don't want to be #1, just turn Jerry Springer back on and avoid my help.
3. Identify what your competitors are doing. If they are big, differentiate yourself as a boutique that is "small enough to care (that's a freebie)." Has your competitor been in business for 50 years? That means their methods and tools are outdated. Maybe, maybe not, right? But, create this perception never-the-less by promoting yourself as the newest in state-of-the-art technology, training and services.
4. Be first and specialize. Charles Schwab was not the first brokerage firm; they were the first discount brokerage firm. Amelia Earhart was not the first pilot who flew across the Atlantic; she was the first female pilot to fly across the Atlantic. Find a category to be first in because people gravitate toward the leader.
5. Be better. De Havilland created the first jet. Boeing came along and developed a larger, safer and more reliable jet. Have you heard of the de Havilland Company? No? That's because they're dead.
6. We are talking about your home business which means we are talking specifically about your website, internet marketing and related marketing materials such as cards and brochures. Your message needs to be consistent. If you are targeting men seeking a divorce lawyer, you cannot market to women in a separate ad because that dilutes your specialization (differentiator). Sacrifice is the pre-requisite to differentiation. Don't try to be something to everyone, be everything to someone. If someone is marketing a new watch for business owners who like football, use Rogaine and eat Chinese food - I'm buying every time.

Now I know what you're thinking; Matt, these are examples of Fortune 500 Companies - how the heck will these examples help my startup? Well, how does a high school football player get better? They watch the pros in the NFL. The NFL may be bigger, but the moves necessary to win are still the same. Steve Jobs created the first computer that was user friendly to non-tech types. He did this in his adoptive parent's garage. His differentiator was "specialty." What's yours? Take a look at your inline competitors and do what they are not.

That's enough for now. I'll post Part 3 later. Next time I will tell you exactly what to say to get customers/clients every time. Until that time, subscribe to my Monday Morning Marketing Memo to get the best business advice and latest New Jersey market analysis.

To your success!

Matt

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Matthew Steffen is the president of Imprinsic Marketing in Haddonfield, NJ. He was recently featured in Forbes as a Consultant who avoids the BS.