How to Stand Out in the Digital World | HDOS Edition
The digital space has become increasingly noisy, with advertisements and content all vying for consumers’ attention. How can you make your business stand out from the rest?
Highlight what makes you unique
Remember that your uniqueness is your superpower. Instead of doing what everyone else is doing in order to fit in, show off what sets your brand apart from the others. If your brand has a bold personality, let it shine! If there’s something interesting or different about your products or services, show that! Don’t feel pressure to follow the crowd.
Additionally, remember your “why.” Why do you have this business? What’s important to you? What do you want to accomplish? Your “why” is likely different from your competitors’ and you can use that to your advantage.
Speak to your target audience
“When you speak to everyone, you speak to no one.” – Meredith Hill
Or, as Seth Godin has said, “Everyone is not your customer.” The point: know who your target customers are and speak to them; don’t worry about everyone else. Focus on the people who are actually likely to buy your products or services. Acknowledge their pain points and address how you can help solve their problems.
If you try to share a message that’s appealing to as many people as possible rather than focusing on your target customers, your message is likely to be too vague, fail to resonate with the right people, and get lost in the noise.
Have a conversation
Speaking of your target customers, it’s not enough to just know who your target audience is; you have to engage with them!
On social media, be sure to reply to comments left on your posts. Liking comments or replying with an emoji is a start, but responding with a thoughtful, relevant comment is much more meaningful and will help you build relationships with your target customers. It will also help you stand out as a personable company that actually cares about its customers, values their input, and wants to interact.
Additionally, don’t just wait for people to come to you! Find posts from target customers and like them and leave comments to start a conversation.
Photo by Artem Podrez from Pexels
Quality over quantity
Focus on quality content – don’t just post for the sake of posting. Start by thinking about your business and marketing goals, and consider what content would help you reach those goals. With a strategy in mind, create content with quality images and thoughtful, well-written copy. This will help set your brand apart as being professional and a subject matter expert in your field. Be sure to also post consistently, but follow a schedule that you feel is manageable rather than trying to post every day just for the sake of pushing out content.
Additionally, don’t be on too many social media platforms just because you feel like you’re “supposed” to be on all of them. Trying to keep up with more platforms than you can manage can quickly become overwhelming and leave your feeds looking either a hot mess or like a ghost town. Instead, start with a couple platforms – whatever you can reasonably manage and, ideally, the platforms that the majority of your target customers are on. Then, using the strategy you created earlier, post quality content on a consistent basis. It’s better to excel on a few platforms than to do a mediocre job on lots of them.
Make a good impression
When a potential customer visits your website, you have a limited amount of time to make a great impression that makes the visitor want to keep reading. Ensure your website loads quickly; if it takes too long to load, people will leave your website annoyed and without having read any of your messaging. When your site does load, it’s important that it’s visually appealing and looks professional. Your audience will likely not be impressed by a website that looks like it’s from 1999.
Make sure your website offers a good user experience and is easy to navigate. If you’ve seen a poorly designed website, you know how frustrating it is to not be able to quickly and easily find the information you’re looking for. Speaking of information, make sure that any text on your website is well written and clearly communicates who you are and what you’re all about. If you include images, be sure they’re high quality.
Provide great customer service
Do you remember the last time you contacted a company’s customer service department? Talking to someone who’s friendly and attentive can be a great experience, but it’s incredibly frustrating when someone is being rude or not very helpful.
Providing great customer service can help make a customer’s overall experience with your company a positive one. Listen to what your customers are saying, try to understand their perspective, then resolve their problems the best you can. It’s also helpful to make it as easy as possible for the customer to contact you when they need assistance, whether that’s via phone, email, or an instant messaging feature.
The digital world is noisy, and the thought of trying to break through that noise can feel daunting.
Luckily, it’s not impossible. Embracing your uniqueness and understanding how to communicate with the right audience will go a long way in helping your company stand out.
See how we, Healthy Dash of Social, can help you!
