Crowd as a metaphor on how to make your small business stand out

You know why I want to show YOU how to make your business stand out from the competition?

In my opinion, there are two types of business owners:

those who, when you ask them what they do, will tell you something like “oh, we’re just another pizza joint”
those whose eyes immediately light up, and they’ll say “we do pizza and champagne pairings for couples who want to add a fancy touch to street food”

Regardless of whether or not you sell pizza and champagne, my guess is that you’re part of the second category.

A badass female-founded small business with a BIG concept for your target audience, right?

And I believe that these are exactly the kind of businesses that DESERVE to be known by more and more lucky customers.

So, lemme show you some strategies and tricks on how to make your business stand out from the competition.

And, by the way…

Being a small business is a big strength!

You might be feeling a little discouraged and wondering, “How can I even hope to stand out against so many larger corporations?”

Here’s the thing, though: people LOVE supporting small businesses!

Consumers will choose a small business 91% of the time as long as it’s convenient (psst: make it so) and 74% even when it’s not.

Customer choosing to support a small business

77% of them are also willing to pay more if a small business provides excellent customer service.

So, before looking at how to make your business stand out from the competition, start by embracing the fact that you’re a woman solopreneur or a small female-founded company.

Don’t try and look like one of the big guys!

Being a small business that focuses on a specific audience or niche is actually a big point in your favour.

10 tips on how to make your female-founded business stand out in a busy market

From using the right strategies to avoiding common pitfalls, here’s how you can put your business in the spotlight.

1. Focus on your target audience

Small business standing out by talking to their audience

DON’T. YOU. DARE. SKIP. THIS.

For your business to stand out from the crowd, you need to do two main things when it comes to your audience:

Know who they are
Put them at the core of your marketing strategy

Too many companies will tell you that what they do is for ✨everyone✨, whether that’s because they haven’t taken the time to get to know their audience or because they think this will increase their chances of success.

Spoiler alert: it’s actually the opposite!

When you try to appeal to everyone, you please no one.

Your audience is exposed to an average of 5,000 marketing messages EVERY. DAY. (1)

So, if you’re wondering how to make your business stand out against the other 4,999, I’m just going to ask you: how can you get their attention if you’re not talking to THEM specifically? Worse, if you don’t know who you should be talking to?

When you know your audience, you can tap into their pain points, speak to them in a way they’ll understand instead of confusing them with jargon, and actually grab their attention.

That’s why, as well as knowing who your products are for, you must also make these people the focus of your marketing strategy.

You’re not there to promote your business. You’re there to tell your target customers how it will improve their lives.

2. Identify your USP and create an unmissable value proposition

Colleagues creating a USP to make their business stand out

Just like you must be clear as to who your audience is, you should have a clear USP, too.

But Giada! There are thousands of people doing what I do.

Well, then why should your audience choose YOU amongst them? If you don’t know, neither will they.

Just because you’re doing something similar to other businesses, it doesn’t mean that you must give up and market yourself as ‘just another one of them’.

For example, if I stopped at saying that I’m a copywriter, it wouldn’t really help me stand out. But I’m not ‘just another copywriter’.

I’m a website copywriter and blog writer turning ambitious female entrepreneurs into THE go-to solution in their dream audience’s eyes.

Yes, this means that my marketing won’t appeal to male-founded businesses, large corporations, or prospects looking for, say, social media management or email marketing.

But guess what? I’m not currently offering those services, so why would I want to try and present myself as a jack-of-all-trades when I’m not?

When you clarify your USP, your value proposition will immediately resonate with your actual target audience.

The cool bunch. Those who need exactly what you offer and love the way you’re presenting it to them.

3. Help your female-founded business stand out visually through memorable branding

How can you make your business stand out if you have no brand identity? What are your potential customers meant to remember about you? How should they feel?

From your logo to your website’s colour palette and your tone of voice, your branding elements must work in (forgive the horrible buzzword) synergy.

They can’t do that if you’ve outsourced all of them separately to the neighbour’s friend who did graphic design before dropping out of uni or your sister’s roommate’s cousin who’s good with words.

Have some memorable branding, and don’t be afraid to inject some personality into your business when it comes to written copy.

For example, Innocent does it so well:

Sample of a business standing out thanks to their unique copywriting

4. Have some audience-oriented website copy

Small business standing out thanks to their website copy

Yes, you should have a website for your business. No, it shouldn’t be all about your business.

(And no, I haven’t gone insane.)

Of course, your website can be a virtual shop window, but please, please, PLEASE don’t make it all about your company in a boring, corporate way by coping what some old-style competitors are doing or reusing the same sentences:

“We are a company with twenty years of experience in…”
“We are delighted to announce…”
“At [company name], we are passionate about…”
“Our core values are…”
[Long company history detailing every single internal change]

People don’t care about all this! And they’ve seen it so many times that, if you were to take this approach, you’d end up becoming white noise.

But you don’t want to be white noise. You’re here to learn how to make your business stand out, right?

Then include website copy that focuses on how your products or services can benefit your target audience, paint a picture of how exciting life will feel once they’ve invested in them, and position your company as the helpful guide that can get them there (you ain’t the hero, my friend. Your customers are!).

And waste no time. Your above-the-fold website copy should already give your target audience a reason to stick around.

For example, here’s what I’ve written for a client:

Sample of excellent copywriting to make a business stand out

As soon as a new prospect lands on their website, they find out exactly what they do, who for, and why they should invest in them.

Not only that: how they will feel once they do.

Much better than saying “We pride ourselves in offering tree surgery solutions,” right?

5. Make your business website SEO-friendly

If you want to make your business stand out on Google, you must make it a breeze for customers to find out about you in the first place.

But how can they find your website if they don’t know your company name and logo just yet?

Simple: you optimise it for relevant keywords that describe your type of products or services as well as what your target audience is actually typing on Google.

For example, an eco-conscious customer looking for shoes and wishing to avoid expensive delivery or import fees won’t be typing your company name but rather something like ‘vegan shoes UK’.

By including these keywords and optimising your entire website for SEO (e.g. fast and mobile-friendly), you’ll start generating organic traffic by targeting people who’re interested in what you do but don’t know about you personally just yet.

Did you know that my website copy has allowed a new business to reach Google’s first page for over 10 local keywords despite there being dozens of more established local competitors? Check out the case study.

6. Be social with the right strategy

Almost 70% of small businesses with 10-50 employees use social media. (2) Sounds great, right?

Well, this doesn’t mean that they’re using them correctly, though.

Too many companies still think that opening a Facebook page and posting promotions or ‘buy now’ posts every single day is how to make their business stand out.

Instead, that’s just a one-way ticket to annoying their followers.

A social media strategy should be there to entertain and educate your target audience following the magical 80:20 ratio, with 80% of your posts being informational and only 20 promotional.

Yep, not the other way around. You’ve read that correctly.

So, here’s how to make your business stand out through social media:

Open an account on up to three relevant platforms, and by relevant I mean ‘where your target audience is lurking around’
Create a realistic schedule: it’s much better to post consistently only twice a week than to go on a three-times-a-day spree, disappearing for a month, and so on
Plan and post content that brings value to your audience

7. Have a newsletter that isn’t a newsletter

You’ve probably learnt this the hard way at some point in your life, but here’s a much-needed reminder: never put all your eggs in one basket, and this includes your marketing.

SEO is vital, but it’ll take months before you start seeing results. Social media are too, but their algorithm won’t always allow you to grow and reach all of your followers.

So, what’s the one platform you have full control over? Your subscribers’ list.

But you must think of this as an email marketing strategy rather than a newsletter to send company updates.

Email marketing’s ROI is 4200% because it focuses, once again, on bringing value to subscribers and sending them engaging content. (3)

Traditional newsletters are dead. Nobody wants to get their inbox clogged up with company news that should belong to internal updates or a text to the CEO’s mum.

PS. Fancy receiving tips, advice, and content prompts to connect with your dream audience through your marketing copy?

Yes, send me more actionable tips!

8. Reward customer loyalty

Branch showcasing excellent customer service and rewarding customers to make their business stand out from competitors

Did you know that almost 60% of consumers spend more on brands they’re loyal to? (4)

Now only that, but 83% of them claim that they’re more likely to buy from a company with a loyalty program. (5)

If it works with your business model, you should consider rewarding your existing customers, whether that’s by offering them a small discount, a free product (e.g. one free coffee after ten purchases), or something else entirely.

In fact, get creative!

9. Give back to a cause that matters to your audience

Small business standing out by supporting a meaningful charity

Imagine being at a large house party where you know hardly anyone (as an introvert, that sounds terrifying). You look around and have no clue as to who to attempt striking a conversation with. But then you see someone wearing a t-shirt that says ‘say NO to racism’. As a fellow anti-racist (I hope so, at least!), you smile.

That’s exactly how it works with your customers. They’re bombarded with all kinds of marketing messages and companies. How can they choose which one to approach?

If you share values, you’re already one step ahead according to 64% of consumers. (6) And no, this doesn’t mean that you can just get away with writing three bullet points and doing nothing about it.

Nor can you say that you’re an eco-friendly business and then take your website visitors to a range of single-use plastic bottles.

Be honest with your consumers, and focus on shared values that you actually care about.

Supporting a common cause is also an effective trick on how to make your business stand out from the competition: 92% of consumers have a more positive image of companies that support a social or environmental cause. (7)

10. Give value to your audience through your blog

Copywriter helping a small business stand out by writing blogs

Finally, one of the best ways to make your business stand out is to blog on your company website.

But no, not by sharing boring company updates and news! By creating an audience-oriented content marketing strategy to educate and entertain your audience.

There are several reasons why you need a blog for your business, but the top ones are:

To reach more people via Google: since every new blog post should target a main longtail keyword (e.g. ‘How to make coffee with a Chemex’ or ‘Best vegan skirts for summer’), blogging once a week means that you’ll have 52 more chances to rank higher than your competitors every year
To grow your audience and generate an average of 67% more leads
To facilitate sales by smoothening the funnel. Remember: 96% of your website visitors aren’t ready to buy! Blogging regularly means that they’ll immediately think of you when they are
To increase brand recognition
To build trust
To improve the SEO of your entire website
To have more insightful content for your social media and email marketing
To show your customers that you’re not just another company blowing its own trumpet: you’re there to bring them value and have a conversation!