If there’s one thing missing in the trades industry, it’s tantalizing marketing plans.
Those who work in the trades are usually highly trained in their area of expertise but don’t tend to branch out and take courses on marketing or experiment with the latest in advertising techniques.
Unfortunately, what this looks like in practice is a bunch of companies offering the same services at similar prices with nothing that sets them apart. They often use the same marketing techniques that they’ve been using for the last 10-15 years.
Sound familiar?
Honestly, it’s a pretty boring industry when it comes down to it.
If you want to separate yourself from your competition, you have to position your brand as unique or new in some way. Although it may sound like a tall task at first, it isn’t that hard ito stand out on the trades industry.
Here’s how you can do it.
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What is Brand Positioning?
You can think of brand positioning as the place that your brand occupies in the mind of consumers. Specifically, it’s what your brand does to set yourself apart from the other companies in your niche.
The ultimate goal in brand positioning is to completely own a niche. Although having a quality product or service certainly helps you achieve market dominance, there is a lot more that goes into than just your product.
The promotions that you offer, your branding, your level of service, and your unique brand guarantee are just a few things that go into your brand positioning.
Lack of effort on this end says just as much, if not more, than a strong plan, so what you need to do is position your brand as new or unique in some way.
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Why New and Unique Sells More
I have some unfortunate news for you.
No matter how you feel about your company, very few businesses are one-of-a-kind businesses. Just think about how many electronics stores there are, how many clothing retailers there are, and how many different types of every kind of restaurant there are.
The trades industry is no different.
In the trades business, every company tends to blend in with the next. Everyone seems to be offering the same service at a similar price and quality. Because of this, it isn’t enough for your business to just offer good service.
Instead, you have to find a way to separate yourself from everyone else offering the same service as you. People want to go with a company that has a truly innovative unique selling position (USP) because it disrupts their normal day to day thinking.
You can imagine a company with an effective USP like a billboard displaying an image that’s upside down. It disrupts your way of thinking and instantly makes you more curious about the advertisement.
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Simple Strategy for Positioning Yourself in the Market
Positioning yourself as unique or different in your market isn’t as complicated as you might think. You can start with the following strategy:
- Brainstorm everything that your company already does and list it out.
- Prioritize your list and put those that your customers care about the most at the top.
- Consider eliminating the ones that your competitors already harp on too much.
- Choose the top three.
- Write a blog post on them.
- Create three social media pieces about each and direct the audience back to your blog.
- Include a short tagline about print ads.
To help get you started, let’s take a look at some ideas and examples specific to the home service space.
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Ideas and Examples in the Home Service Space
Image From The Facebook Page of Bruno Total Although the home service space may come across as a bit bo
ring in some ways, there’s still a ton of room for you to position your service in a way that encourages people to view your company as something unique.Here are some of my favorite ways for you to do it.
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Focus On New Products Or Materials
A lot of people in the industry use the same materials, but that doesn’t mean that they all advertise them to their customers in the same way.
To set yourself apart from everyone else, look for new attributes or improvements in the materials that you use and highlight those attributes in your marketing content.
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New Processes
People want to hire companies that are efficient and on the cutting edge of technology.
Do you have a new scheduling system? Let your customers know about it so they think that you’re more on top of your calendar than everyone else.
Have a new electronic document signing system? Let everyone know so they know that making payments with you is easier and safer than with anyone else.
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What You Do Differently Than the Competition.
Even if you offer something that is industry standard, it’s still different in the eyes of your customers if they aren’t aware that it isn’t industry standard.
It could be something as simple as offering a reminder call the day before and the day of your appointment or touting how fast your estimates are.
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Guaranteed Completion Times
People want to work with companies who are confident in the services that they offer. To show people that you’re confident in the work that you do, offer guaranteed completion times. It gets people in the door and keeps them coming back because of how good you are.
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Tell Your Brand Story
The single most cost effective way any local service business can be unique and different is to tell their brand story. There’s nothing that resonates with people more than hearing about how someone just like them was able to build up a successful business. It makes them want to support you.
Employees can join you in this effort by talking with people about how they ended up working for the company and how it has affected their life.
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Make it Fun
Give your brand an identifiable fun mascot and get out there! Mascots are an easy way to turn any boring business into something fun and emotional.. You’ll have to spend several hundred bucks on a costume, but once you start making the emotional connection, and long lasting memories with the local community dividends will pay.
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You Don’t Have to be Better, Just Different
Because there is so much competition in the trades industry, there are probably companies in your area that already offer services similar to yours at a similar level of quality.
That’s ok.
You don’t necessarily have to be better than everyone else if you’re able to position your brand as one that’s unique or different than everyone else.
For example, telling a brand story that connects with people on an emotional level may lead someone choosing your brand over one that has done more sales or has better reviews just because supporting your company makes them feel good about themselves.
Let me know what you think in the comments section below.
Related: “The Guy”… The #1 Sign That You Have a Branding Or Differentiation Problem.