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At The Art of Marketing Conference in March, I listened to a handful of really great speakers, including Mitch Joel, Martin Lindstrom, Eric Ryan, and Scooter Braun, on topics like branding, loyalty, and social media.

One speaker in particular, Youngme Moon stood out from the crowd.  She talked about how companies should focus on their core strengths and what sets them apart from the competition.

99% of companies feel they are different even though most customers see them as the same. So how can you stand out?

Here are some key tips from Youngme Moon’s presentation:

1. Innovation is not necessarily about creating something better; it’s about creating something different from what exists.  It’s easy to focus on “new and improved” or “bigger and better” but will this approach really work for your B2B company?  Focusing on what makes you stand out from the competition is more important.
2. Hyper vigilance to staying competitive often keeps us the same.  Companies frequently look at competitors to determine what they should be doing but focusing on your core strengths is the real way to be competitive. If you’re chasing what the competition is doing, you may miss opportunities to leverage what you’re really good at.
3. Renovation is not the same as innovation.  If you’re always trying to turn what you’re already doing into something perfect or competitive, you can never be completely creative or innovative.
4. Different and crazy can sometimes look the same.  Most people believed that Twitter was a terrible idea when it was first introduced.  Who could have guessed that a social media site that only allowed you to post 140 characters would be so successful?  Expand your paradigms and see where it can take you.
5. Become irreplaceable.  Customers remain loyal to companies that are the best at what they do.  Focusing on what makes your company different will help you become irreplaceable.  If customers think you’re the same as the competition, they have no reason to be loyal.

Youngme Moon’s presentation has left me thinking: what can I do for my clients to help them be different?

How is your company different?

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