Standing out in a crowded market

Have you ever wondered how to stand out from your competition?

I mean truly stand out and offer your potential clients something so magnetic that they just can’t help but be drawn to you?

Well that can be quite a challenge when so much has already been done to attract clients.

About three years ago a good friend of mine told me about a branding expert she had come across whose lead magnet was a quiz. You completed the form and your found out what was your brand archetype.

Carl Jung and a great lead magnet

When you completed the quiz you were told which of the 12 ‘brand archetypes’ you were. All of these archetypes are based on the work of Carl Jung, the founder of analytical psychology. I’ve worked a lot with executive coaches, some of whom where trained in Jungian analysis so I was intrigued to find out more and I signed-up to take the free test.

Once the assessment was completed a beautiful pdf was dispatched to my inbox advising on my brand’s:

• Essence
• Strengths
• Shadow
• Ability
• Manifestation, and much more

Two things struck me after I had read my report:

It was extremely accurate.

It was the best FREEBIE I have ever signed up to and I actually couldn’t believe that it was free.

I later found out that the owner of the test had originally thought to use this it as her first low cost entry point for her prospective clients.

Something old, something new, something updated

So why did this stand out when there are a number of assessment tests/quizes you can take?

• It focused on one area and although branding is a huge subject there were only 12 archetypes so it was easy for people to understand that they were going to fit into 1 of 12 categories.
• It was clear that the owner had really thought about the customer experience and taken a terrific amount of care to ensure that everything was engaging.
• It was contagious – I was telling my business friends about it, they were telling their friends. Great word of mouth marketing.

Later on I discovered that this lead magnet had generated over 11,000 sign-ups to her emailing list in less than a year.

What not to do!

So what can we all learn from this and how can you apply the principals to your work?

1. Don’t accept the norm – go beyond a checklist, report or video series for your lead magnet – what could you give that would truly serve your clients and potential clients?
2. Don’t allow the ‘there is nothing new to offer’ programme to run in your head – your approach, your angle, your creativity and your thinking can turn something ordinary into something magical.
3. Don’t play safe and stay in the ‘middle-of-the-road’ this can often seem like the best place to be because you are not coming down on either side but when you are there along with everyone else you will just get overlooked.

Capture their attention

To truly stand out and capture your clients’ attention you need to think differently and explore new possibilities.

1. Have an opinion that is going to challenge how your clients think and see the world.  Not everyone will agree with you but you don’t actually want that – you want to attract the people that are in alignment with your approach.
2. Help your clients to explore new possibilities. You will shift mountains when you help your clients to see something through a different lens and this really could be anything.For example your potential client’s approach to:
   1. healthy eating or exercise
   2. wearing colour instead of wearing all black all of the time
   3. how they position themselves in their market and the messaging they use to convey their talents
   4. self-care and putting themselves first
   5. their IT system and rather than having disparate components help them to understand that even as a soloprenuer having an eco-
   6. system approach to their IT works far more efficiently
3. What could you give to your clients that you would normally charge for? Something of real value?

So what could you do to help your client’s to stretch themselves beyond their comfort zone? Or how might you encourage debate and really get your potential clients thinking about themselves and one another?

I’d love to read your thoughts and suggestions in the comments below and if you liked this post, please share it with your business friends on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.