Creative Differences: Stick Out & Grow Up your Business

Companies today need to take drastic measures to stand out from the pack and separate themselves in the minds of clients. It’s all in an effort to increase customer loyalty at a time when most purchasers are loyal to the next company offering a lower price.

Yet, you know what beats down the low-price game more than anything else? Creative offerings and ideas. It’s something Ford Motor Company knows all too well, and it announced a new service this week to do something about it. The auto giant has noticed a shift in the way consumers purchase cars, as ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft have become so popular. Usually the cars are branded when used for Uber, so you might want to check out the best name in Denver vinyl wraps just in case you decide to try using your car for extra income. Not willing to cede this sector of the automotive market to startups, Ford announced its own ride-sharing plan that will allow owners of Ford vehicles to rent their cars to pre-screened customers as a way to defray the cost of maintaining a vehicle.

Ford just got into the rental car business, but on a peer-to-peer level so any owner of a Ford car can now turn their down driving time into a money-making proposition. Ford is now allowing its customers to go on vacation and make money off of their sitting-idly-in-the-driveway cars. It’s a genius idea, and it’s one that’s sure to increase customer loyalty. After all, if you’re making money off of your Ford car like it’s a rental house you own, why would you suddenly go buy another car from a different automaker who’s not offering the same service?

The concept is going to be tested in six U.S. cities – Berkeley, Oakland, San Francisco, Portland, Chicago and Washington, D.C. – and in London through November. “Our vision today is to expand that same thinking using advanced technology and new business models, and addressing the mobility challenges people face around the world,” said Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford.

Not said in that quote? We know other previously nonexistent competitors are changing the way our market is run, and we need to adapt. That’s what Ford is doing, and it’s what distributors in the promotional products market need to do, as well.

You can’t just go to market with the same offerings as you did last year or two years ago or five years ago! Customers are changing and how they can purchase has shifted. You don’t know where your new competition is coming from next (Truth is we never have.)

You have to differentiate your company today not just from traditional competitors, but from anybody that your clients can possibly do business with. Think of new marketing services you can offer.

If you’re only offering one product or service to your clients today, then you’re missing an opportunity to increase those clients’ loyalty. It’s something Ford has recognized, and it came up with a smart and savvy offering as a way to impede new competitors from playing on its lawn. What will your new service be?

Think about who you are…and what you want to be. New ideas come from there.

(Special Shout out to Counselor Magazine, most of the details came from there)