A marketing dilemma

I’ve been reading Norm Brodsky’s book “The Knack”. I’m only a few chapters into it, but I now feel faced with an interesting dilemma. Norm says he never recommends that anyone launch a highly unique business, because few can afford to educate the market about what the service provides. Leave the breakthrough stuff to the Microsofts and the Apples of the world. The rest of us should seek out markets where there are already a number of competitors, then figure out how to separate ourselves from the pack.

For years, I’ve been trying to separate my business from other main-stream businesses by providing a unique position and offering. Those that have used us have been very pleased, which is evident by our 90% return rate of customers (doing follow on or whole-new projects). However, it has been traditionally tough for us to land new clients. Almost all of our new clients have come to us through recommendations from our existing relationships. Now I’m coming to realize that trying to be so unique may have actually hampered our growth.

This is a tough pill to swallow for a guy (and a firm) that is dedicated to finding the unmet needs of our clients and offer a service that directly satisfies them. It’s great for those “in the know”, but obviously a tough message to communicate to new prospects.

It’s human nature to categorize things into buckets that we currently understand. When we come across a wholly new offering, we immediately attempt to equate it with something we’re familiar with. It doesn’t matter if it’s a perfect fit, it’s just important that we can classify information in such a way as to not be constantly overwhelmed. Once a service is categorized, then we can mentally go through the process of differentiating one service from another (in terms of metrics that we comfortably use; price, speed, quality, etc.).

There’s nothing wrong with being unique. In fact it’s a critical factor in a competitive world. But, there’s obviously a big difference between having a unique offering, and talking about it in a strictly unique way. Introduce people to your product or service in ways that are familiar to them. Once there, help them to see how you have a unique solution to satisfy their needs.