Every business wants to say it’s better than its competitors. Better service. Better quality. Better people.
The difficulty is that a potential customer often has no way to judge those claims. If five businesses all say they’re “trusted experts who put customers first”, how is anyone supposed to choose?
They may end up choosing whoever replies first. Or whoever has the clearest price. Or the business a friend mentioned last week.
So here’s a better question than “How do we say we’re the best?”
What can we help a customer understand about us that makes their decision easier?
Your reason doesn’t have to be dramatic
You don’t need to invent a quirky brand personality or declare that you’re the only business of your kind.
A reason to choose you could be quite practical:
- You specialise in a particular type of customer or problem.
- Your process removes something customers usually find stressful.
- You can show relevant work and explain the results.
- You offer a level of support that matters to your customers.
- You explain a complicated service in a way people can actually understand.
For example, “experienced employment solicitors” gives me very little to work with.
“Employment advice for family-run businesses dealing with their first serious staff dispute” tells a particular customer, this might be for me.
That won’t appeal to everyone. It doesn’t need to.
Ask your customers what mattered
Businesses often guess why customers choose them. Sometimes the real answer is much more useful than the one in the marketing plan.
Ask three recent customers:
What made you choose us over the other options you considered?
Listen for specifics. Did they value your speed? Did someone explain things clearly? Did they recognise a similar business in your examples? Was your quote easier to understand?
Then compare their answers with your website.
If customers repeatedly mention something valuable that your website barely talks about, you may have found a better message. If they mention something your website promises but your team doesn’t consistently deliver, that’s useful to know too.
Show it, don’t just claim it
“Personal service” is a claim. Explaining who a customer will deal with and what happens after they get in touch is more convincing.
“Great results” is a claim. A relevant example with context is more convincing.
“Easy to work with” is a claim. A simple, visible process helps people believe it.
Being different for the sake of it won’t win you much. Being clear about what you do particularly well, for whom, and showing evidence of it gives the right people a reason to remember you.
Start with what your customers already value. You may not need to invent a differentiator. You may just need to stop hiding it.
