Overview
- How to compete with the biggest authority in your niche
- What makes it hard to standout in the beginning
- How to identify your competitive advantage
- How my competitive advantage offer looked like
How do you beat the biggest authority in your niche?
Specially when growing a business in a different country.
Well… you don’t.
Not by playing their game.
Instead, you do it by creating your own game.
A new one where you can position yourself as the leader of it.
That means you don’t beat Coca-Cola by trying to sell a better cola.
They own the “cola” space, everything you do will be compared to them.
That by default keeps them as the leaders of the game.
Look at all the new electric cars.
What does the media do?
They compare them with Tesla.
Tesla has become the reference in the electric car space.
How did they manage that?
They created their own game and position themselves as the leader of it.
So how can we the small guys position ourselves as the leaders of our game?
Well, not by doing this…
Do This Instead
Have you ever spoken to somebody, and got a strange feeling about them?
As if there is something weird that doesn’t fit.
You don’t know what it is, but you know there is something fishy about them.
Well, that happens when their body language doesn’t really match with what they are saying.
Our brain goes into alarm mode to protect us.
The same thing happens with our business.
When we try to pretend something we are not, customers’ brains go into alarm and walk away.
That’s why we struggle when:
- Trying to look bigger than we are
- Trying to service an industry we’ve never worked in
- Trying to make claims we haven’t validated
- Trying to do what others are doing
Not only is all that exhausting, but people can see right through it.
Your self-confidence betrays you.
That’s why, the best is to be yourself, nobody can compete with being you.
and then focus on telling everybody what you are trying to build.
The best way to be yourself?
Identify your “weaknesses,” the things that make it hard for you to fit in with the establishment.
The things that make you different.
And then turn them into your competitive advantage.
Turn them into your strengths.
This is how I did it.
For Example
As I started hosting events in Vienna, I had the option to adapt my style and try to be more like the local style.
Some even try to push me to it.
But, since I’m not Austrian, I realized it didn’t matter how hard I would try to match the local style, I would never nail it.
Making it awkward for everyone.
So I took “my weakness” and turned that into my competitive advantage.
Becoming the alternative when somebody wanted to have a different type of event.
Allowing me to carve my own niche.
And that’s what people came to me for.
Not only was I able to be myself on stage, but by doing that, people were able to get a much better experience.
Plus, they came back for more.
Now, I’m not saying you need to go all the way and become the opposite.
Meaning, you don’t need to push it.
(There is a reason why McDonalds and Starbucks adapt to local markets, they keep their identities, but they adapt slightly).
Just be different.
It’s enough.
As A Small Business Growing In A New Market…
As we start our business, we look at established players and believe we need to be like them.
But we have to accept we are not them, and so we can’t beat them at trying to be them.
Instead, we need to take what looks like “our weaknesses” and turn them into our competitive advantage.
And then, identify who out there values what we got.
In my case, my “weaknesses” were:
- No German
- Latin Guy Stereotype = just party, not serious, not professional
- External = doesn’t understand us, what does he know?
- Unknown, no audience or brand
So I offered
- A unique experience for locals who wanted a more international, English environment.
- A more casual, energizing event. One where the host played a role in managing the mood and energy of the audience.
- A more hands-on approach to designing the flow of the event together with the organizers. Giving me a bigger influence on the program and content, to achieve the client’s goals.
- A different and new perspective on local topics created by my unique background
- The new guy on the block, a fresh take. Making organizers look innovative by providing a new type of event.
And it worked.
Not for everybody but that’s ok.
It worked for the ones that clicked with me.
Regardless of your stage or industry, you always have things to offer that give you an edge.
Figure them out, use them, and you will stand out.
Don’t try to play somebody else’s game.
Instead, create your own.