I was with a new client the other day who told me a number of times how good his business was at supplying the product he sells. When I questioned the word “good” there was a lack of statistics or information to substantiate his claims. Sometimes business owners can get a bit blinkered when it comes to what sets them apart from their competition.
In a nutshell, are you a business that is satisfied with your position in the market? What are your strengths and weaknesses? How do you want to be perceived and what sort of information have you go to substantiate your claims??
In my opinion, each business should have a clear vision; a sort of mission if you like. This is necessary to give a focus to the business and something that can be translated into a marketing message for clients and prospects. It should be obvious to anybody who comes into contact with your company exactly what it stands for. Why not claim the high ground and tell everyone about it i.e Bath Marketing Consultancy is Bath’s only full service, pay-as-you- go marketing company!
Naturally, the mission needs to be credible and it may well need regular review, but without it your business has very little to differentiate it.
My final bit of advice on this is to ensure that the mission has real distinguishable features. Too many statements centre on “……we aim to be the number 1 supplier for…..” i.e. there is no client focus or addressing of what clients want. Adapt this type of statement to be more along the lines of “….we aim to be the number 1 supplier for those clients with need for xxx thanks to the benefits offered by our unique xxx package.”
This might be a little long winded, but I hope you catch my drift!
