Differentiation

The Power of Being Unique

Are you ready to renunciate conformity?

Blue Ocean Differentiation and Positioning Strategy for Knowledge and Creative Professionals | RedShift Consulting and Coaching, Boston MA - mary wynne-wynter, change facilitator

What

  • No longer only about the product or service or targeting a niche. Its now about being meaningfully different.
  • Developing a differentiation strategy is a co-creative process requiring awareness, rigor and dialog. Its not a wordy report; its a synthesis and essence of your product, service, culture, philosophy and brand.
  • Differentiation separates you from the clutter in the market and raises you to the level of expert in your industry, field and market space.
  • Differentiation is the key starting point for setting new objectives in response to rapidly changing trends, including the shift to permission and trust-based marketing.
  • Differentiation is the foundation of content-marketing and social media because it consistently reinforces who you are and what you stand for with short, simple yet powerful and memorable statement(s).
  • The global microbrand, coined by Hugh McLeod, meaning a small, tiny brand, that “sells” all over the world, is differentiation strategy for solo and creative professionals.

“You do not merely want to be considered just the best of the best. You want to be considered the only ones who do what you do.”
Jerry Garcia

Why?

  • Because to not understand, believe in, lead and fully live up to differentiation is to join the race to the bottom in pursuit of competitive advantage. In other words: change your world not your tactics.
    In my research, what I learned was that despite the fact that most companies are deeply committed to the concept of differentiation, at any given moment they are also intensely aware of what their competitors are doing, and it is this competitive vigilance that ultimately pushes them down a path of conformity. They will notice, for example, that competitor A has decided to offer a couple of new features in this market, or that competitor B has raised its prices in that market. And it is these observations that make it very difficult for them to resist the urge to follow suit. Competitive pressure, I argue, breeds conformity. Full article and link to the book by Younme Moon
  • Entrepreneurs: You’re business strategy for surviving the economic re-set has been to avoid all risk. It hasn’t worked and you now realize minimally ok is worse than truly awful.
  • Solo Knowledge and Creative Professionals:You know that your clients seek solutions for a world that no longer exists but you hold back from taking bold risks because you don’t want to lose their business.
  • Career Transitioners:You know that you’re an indispensable Linchpin but your stuck in status quo methods, like resume’ pushing, to discover new opportunities.

“Ho-hum. We swim in an ocean of ho-hum, and I’m going to fight it. I’m going to die fighting it.” Barry Gibbons, Former CEO, Burger King

How

Blue Ocean Strategy (as depicted in my graphic using my own business as a case study) is one excellent “frame-changing tool for differentiation for competitive advantage.

Questions: Contact Me

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