Do you know what really makes your business different all of the others that prospective clients can choose from?
Let me tell what doesn’t make it different.
It’s NOT that you have better service than anyone else. It’s NOT that you have a better range of equipment. It’s NOT that you have more experienced staff.
It’s NOT that you have particular specialities. It’s NOT that you’ve been in business since 1982. It’s NOT that you are a partner of this company or that.
But aren’t these the things that most IT support and IT consultancy businesses use to differentiate themselves? Yes they are – and that’s precisely why you shouldn’t rely on them to differentiate your business.
You see, you have to look your marketing and positioning not as the owner of an IT support company; but as a prospective client.
Look at your business through their eyes. Remember they know very little… they are not completely absorbed in the world of IT support as you are. They don’t think and breathe technology. They only think about it when it’s absolutely necessary.
So if they look at the websites of three IT support businesses and all of them claim the same things… to have the best quality, the most appropriate speciality, and decades in business… well, how do you tell the three apart?
You can’t!
There’s an important thing to remember in marketing. It’s about perception not reality. If you can get someone to believe that you have a better business, they will believe that, regardless of the truth.
We have all heard stories about technically excellent IT support people who have struggled in business. It’s how clients think about you that affects their spending.
What you or I think counts for very little. Industry reputations don’t affect the buying decisions of most clients.
So what should you use to differentiate your business? Well, your business is unique and amazing! The history and milestones that got it to where it is today; its location; its people; the human stories – all of these things will heavily influence why someone would pick you instead of another.
The problem is, you probably don’t use that information in the most profitable way. Here’s how to know – if another IT support company could copy your website content and swap your business’s name for theirs, would anyone notice? Easily stealable website content is a symptom that a business isn’t clear on its unique positioning.
Whereas the business that knows how to differentiate itself – you couldn’t steal its web content, as it’s too unique. Too focused on the things that make that business the obvious choice.
