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If you’re a business owner like me, you’ve no doubt noticed that many of your competitors market themselves and promote their services in a remarkably similar way. You probably even follow suit yourself, proudly announcing your product line, sharing your mission and values and disseminating your customer testimonials … like everyone else in your industry.
To a degree, redundancy of messaging and overlap of company offerings is inevitable in any given market; after all, a tennis pro shop does what a tennis pro shop does, a pet store sells what a pet store sells and a nail salon works on nails. So how do you convince your potential customer base that you’re not like everyone else in your industry and that you deserve a chance at their business?
What I’ve found in my 15+ years as the owner of my public relations agency is that I must continuously differentiate myself along chosen parameters and in targeted areas if I want to earn my piece of the pie. And that differentiation requires constant, diligent attention.
In today’s incredibly crowded marketplace, every single entrepreneur-owned enterprise needs to find a way to grab the spotlight. Here are five ways I make my PR firm shine.
1. Build genuine thought leadership
Lots of PR and marketing agencies help their clients pursue pathways to thought leadership. Far fewer spend time paving their own.
By “thought leadership,” I mean far more than posting the occasional blog or compiling a comprehensive FAQ page on your website. I mean positioning yourself as a credible expert in your field who readily shares fresh insights, market trends and industry-specific perspectives that will help fellow business leaders make informed decisions.
Basically, you want your target audience to turn to you when they’re seeking guidance and knowledge, and you can establish that kind of prestige through:
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