It’s hard to be heard when everyone in your market is saying basically the same thing. It’s hard to stand out in any meaningful way from your competitors if everyone is offering the same benefits or the same product for the same price or delivering the same spiel. How can you possibly be heard?

One of the markets here in the US where this is glaringly obvious is the insurance market. Think about the commercials you see about insurance – particularly car insurance. “Switch to us and save money,” worded one way or another, is the main drum that nearly everyone is beating right now. It is very clear that the consumer focus groups were very specific about cost being a significant driver of insurance-buying decisions, isn’t it?

If you’ve seen any car insurance commercials, there are likely a couple of that stand out to you. Which ones? For me, there are two insurance companies that have absolutely done it right. They’ve figured out how to be heard in a sea of sameness.

The first on my list is Farmers Insurance. In the sea of “switch and save,” they have focused instead on “we cover the weird things that happen,” and they’ve created memorable commercials that stand out. I actually enjoy their commercials for the “OMG factor” of whatever calamity they’re memorializing. The point is, I remember who they are – and I remember that they’ve covered some pretty wild claims – so they’ll probably do a good job with ordinary claims, too.

The second on my list is Liberty Mutual. I DO NOT LIKE THEIR COMMERCIALS. They’re annoying and stupid. But, wow, are they ever memorable. I won’t forget their name because the emu is annoying, and they made the company name rhyme with EMU – LIMU. And they’ve adopted a tagline, “only pay for what you need,” that intrigues me and makes me wonder what I am paying my current company for that I don’t need.

But Margaret, why is Genoo writing a blog post about car insurance commercials? 

It’s about standing out. It’s about being the voice that people CAN hear. It’s about attracting YOUR perfect potential customers.

It’s about figuring out a different angle that you can capitalize on to capture your audience’s attention, like these 2 insurance companies have done.

The good news is that YOU don’t have to do it in 30 seconds.

You have the opportunity to engage over time via your email marketing with the people who are on your list. You have the opportunity to build value and earn the trust of your audience, so that whey they are ready to buy, you are at the top of their minds.

Ask yourself these questions:

1. What is the primary “noise” in my market? What’s the prevalent pitch?  (the equivalent of the car insurance industry’s “switch and save” pitch)
2. What different angle can I take that will allow me/my company to stand out while still solving a problem that people want to solve with a service or product that I provide?
3. How can I leverage my content to provide value to people to lead them down the path of trusting me and ultimately choosing me to provide that service or product?

As with everything, this all becomes part of the bigger picture, right?

You won’t be able to answer those questions if your market – your perfect potential customer – is not crystal clear. You need to know the problem you solve and for whom you best solve it – or this won’t work terribly well for you. I recommend you go read this post – really read it – to see what I mean: Here’s My Stuff. Buy My Stuff.

And yes, you’ll need content that creates a story line, builds value, and creates a relationship of trust. Frankly, that means writing blog posts, sending emails that link to those blog posts, and tracking what people click and read you know they’re interested in the topic – and then you have an opportunity to deepen the conversation on that topic.

Focus each bit of content on taking people an inch in the right direction – with ways that they can travel more inches if they choose. (The One-Inch Rule of Effective Marketing post sheds more light on that concept.)

Keep your content strategy in front of you

Everything you write, every speech you give, every interview you do, every sales conversation you have…it’s all your content.  Taken separately or together, each piece moves your perfect potential customer toward the ONE THING you do better than anyone else in the world – the way you solve the problem that people want to solve.

Your content – and how you leverage it to provide value to your audience – is what sets you apart from everyone else in your market. What can you write in a blog post to support the angle you’re choosing to go to market with? For example, if I were writing content for an insurance company, I might be writing about how the majority of people buy their car insurance when they buy their car and never adjust it after the car is paid off or there’s a life change (like no longer driving to an office to work).

Whether you’re a life coach or a lawyer, a finance company or a farmer, there’s a way YOU can talk to YOUR market that will attract the right people to you. Find your difference and be heard.