If someone walked up to you and said "you should make your
business more like a snowflake" you'd probably think they
were a little crazy. Do they think your business should be
made from ice crystals? Be cold or melty? Fall from the
sky? None of these seem like desirable business attributes.
But, there's one thing that each and every snowflake has
that a small business should strive for—uniqueness. When
the ice crystals that make up a snowflake all get together,
they always assemble themselves in a new and different
formation. Snowflakes always have a unique structure and a
unique appearance.
Just like snowflakes, your business will have several
different types of uniqueness. On the surface, you'll want
your brand and marketing materials to look unique, so that
when all of your materials go out, they can stand out from
your competitions'.
Your business will have underlying structural elements that
make you different. This will include how your business is
put together, how you run your business, the products and
services you offer, and all those sorts of business
considerations that show up in your business plan.
But your business has one other type of uniqueness that
snowflakes don't
And that's personality. This kind of uniqueness is a bit
tricky for small businesses. The challenge is separating
the personality of the business from the personality of the
entrepreneur running the business.
Why bother with this distinction? It can help your business
appear more professional, by establishing you as a business
instead of just a freelancer. Positioning yourself as a
company instead of just an individual can also help you
command more respect and higher rates.
If you're planning to grow your company by hiring more
people to work for you, then using your business uniqueness
instead of your personal uniqueness will make you look less
like a consultancy and more like a company. Positioning
your business in that way from the beginning can help you
to wean your clients from expecting to work with you
personally. This can be invaluable as you add on staff.
How To Be Unique
Here's a simple plan that can help you overcome the
uniqueness challenge:
1. Create a business and brand plan
A lot of small businesses skip this step because it seems
pretty elementary. But the process of writing down things
like your business structure, product and service
offerings, competition, mission, vision, experience and
marketing plans can help you unearth elements of your own
uniqueness.
A business plan that's created for these purposes doesn't
have to be "official sounding", or particularly long. All
it has to do is to record your basic plans.
2. Identify your uniqueness
What is unique about you? That's actually one of the most
difficult questions for anyone to answer. The reason why
it's so hard to tell what's unique about you is that you
typically do whatever it is that makes you unique
naturally—and constantly. You do your unique behavior or
skill so often, and so effortlessly, that you probably
don't even notice you're doing it.
So if you don't know that you're doing something that makes
you special, how do you figure out what that is? You can
look at your competition to see if there's anything that's
central to the way you do business that they're leaving
out. Or ask clients who have worked with you what made the
experience unique. You could also try writing down
everything that you do, or creating a case study of a
client project, and have a friend or colleague look over
your notes. Something may jump out at them that you don't
even notice.
3. Separate your business's uniqueness from the business
owner
This step has different challenges depending on your plans
for your company's growth. If you want to keep your company
the same size and just grow the business in terms of
revenue and success, then the challenge is separating out
just enough of your own personality, and still leaving some
unique traits for the business. The trick is to avoid going
overboard when separating your self from the business. This
can make your business' personality too professional and
sterile.
If you want to eventually build a company that's bigger
than yourself, plan your brand to work for the growing
company. The challenge here is creating a personality for
your business that your employees will be able to
embody—and then hiring employees based not only on their
qualifications but also on their ability to match that
personality.
How do you do this step? I recommend noting your
personality in social situations, and comparing it with
your personality in business situations. If you're shy in
social situations, it might also help to note your
personality when you're interacting with your spouse or
children. Then see which of these traits you could
comfortably and professionally bring to your business.
For example, say you really enjoy story time with your
children. It could be business-appropriate to explain your
services in a more story-like manner. That would infuse
your sales process with personality and help to bring
beneficial personality to your clients.
4. Brand your business to show that uniqueness
Many businesses have a lot of personality, but they design
their brands to look "professional" instead of showing off
makes them special. The other extreme is when companies
design graphics that are either too complicated or too
unique—so they don't have any meaning to the client or
prospect looking at them.
Make the most of your graphics by defining your unique
brand, then using common shapes and symbols to communicate
your brand message. If you're a financial advisor who
focuses on helping clients do all the fun things they want
to do in their lives, then a bright color palette and
energetic shapes like starbursts may be appropriate. But if
you're focusing on helping people who don't understand
investing to make sound decisions, then circular,
trust-building shapes and a more traditional color palette
of navy and gold may be more appropriate.
Taking these 4 steps to show your business' unique design,
structure and personality will help your business avoid
looking too coldly professional. They'll help you to show
your prospects and clients what a unique snowflake you
really are, and your business will shine.
----------------------------------------------------
Erin Ferree is a brand identity designer who creates big
visibility for small businesses. As the owner of elf
design, Erin is passionate about helping her clients stand
out in front of their competition and attract more clients.
Her "Define Your Difference Branding Workbook" will help
you with your brand definition - the most important step in
the logo design process.
http://www.elf-design.com/products-define.html
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