How does your industry market?

I'm often struck by how many business owners use just one or two ways of marketing their business. What's more concerning is how many businesses within any given industry use exactly the same marketing tactics. Of course, everyone says their business is different but if everyone markets in the same way then how is the customer to know?

Let's take plumbers as an example:

Plumbers tend to advertise in the Yellow Pages. Some will use flyers. They all say they offer a fast and reliable service and do so at keen rates.

If everyone says and does the same thing then none of it really matters.

What would happen if a plumber suddenly decided to do things a bit differently? Say, for example, they invested some time in creating a referral program. They could stay in touch by email, offer special discounts and ask for referrals - it would cost nothing but their time. As the only plumber doing it they'd stand out a mile and no doubt increase the number of referrals and repeat jobs. What if they offered a money-back guarantee or wrote a 'quick fix guide' and gave them out to every customer?

Of course, plumbers are not alone. So ask yourself, what is everyone else in my industry doing? Then ask, why?

If you can start marketing in ways the others don't, you'll start to find the customers the others aren't.