You and your People Are What Make Your Company Unique

What makes your company unique in the marketplace. Once upon a time, there was lots of talk about creating a 'unique selling proposition" your USP. Well, in this world of the Internet and social media, any USP out there is going to be seen by your competitors and ameliorated before your USP has an influence on your market.

So how do we truly differentiate ourselves. We differentiate ourselves with a unique attitude about customer service or an expertise in the field and we build the reputation in the community by the actual interactions with customers and prospects and...

some of you might have seen this coming
creating content that tells the stories, that demonstrates a caring for customers, that answers real questions, that offers useful warnings,  or perspective, telling actual stories of helping people solve problems, , as well as being open and transparent with the web visitors meeting your people

but there is one more item to insure unique and useful content.

 To make these stories really effective; your people, are telling them or are a critical part of the story. These are your key people in the field or in the front office depending on the story and the theme.

Now, these people aren't going to be busy taking writing courses online- unless they want to; but they are going to be aware of the strategic plan and the vision involved. And they are going to participate in a system that takes a story line and develops the content along a strategic theme in the content plan. Creating useful content is easy and enjoyable but it does take a plan and vision. The vision is part of the role of leadership.

We have moved beyond the role of branding as we moved out of the mass media age into the connection marketing economy. Branding is still important for continuity and good style,but the future of good marketing will revolve around BONDING and not BRANDING.

In a connected world, your repeat customers are bonded to you mostly people to people. Your great office people who are  easy to work with, your great  talent in the field that did great work and were on time, and served them well. These personal experiences are what give meaning to the brand, not the cute cartoon character associated with your brand-unless he is a lizard with a Brit accent...

And BONDING is what will help capture the trust of the people who are just now meeting you. Keeping existing customer happy is extremely important, and much of the following information here pertains to staying  connected with existing  customers, but the issue we want to deal with here right now...

Bonding and being unique plays a key role in attracting new prospects that trust you. Useful content is essential but the people providing the content can make a huge contribution.
And we will elaborate on that but first we have to understand the power in introducing yourself as the business owner and introducing your key people as real assets that you are proud of. Your team is the greatest asset you have, and the value of that asset has been developed over the years.

There are multiple reasons seeing your people can make a huge difference for your company.

Your people show up and knock on people's doors. People are very sensitive about who knocks on their door. Many companies think they are reassuring potential customers by saying... in effect.... that all our employees are regularly drug tested. Powerful endorsement here, your employees are nameless but are not drug fiends.

What if instead you had detailed information about your key people. Had a collection of written compliments from testimonial letter with them. What if you talked about their expertise and their years of experience. What if you provided space to create a real picture of real people.

What have you just done by exemplifying your team?

Well, people visiting your site looking to see if you are the right company to hire, will be pleased to see real people that you trust on your pages. You have created unique separation between you and any competitor engaging in corporate speak.

When web viewers get a feeling for your team being happy and helpful people, they are more willing to call to ask questions and take that first positive step towards getting an estimate and hiring you.

You will also attract top talent into your organization because top people pay attention and see where good people are appreciated. Finding talent, especially in a skilled job classification, can be difficult. An ability to attract top talent is a real advantage.

And your own face, and history and your own story of how you got into this business, and a little fleshing out of personality and sense of values here makes for added confidence in your company. Every little edge counts.

Some people are scared to show off their people.

Now some people try to keep secret their people because they think they are protecting them from people out to hire away talent? Well, this makes no sense. If you are treating people well and paying them fairly, and praising them for great work, and offering a path to increased opportunity and advancement; the top talent will move on, They will be identified in the market and they will be tempted; there is nothing hidden in the age of social media- and so basically the opposite is true.

And some business owners try to remain obscure to protect themselves from sales people? Can this be true? You need a clear and easy policy to deal with sales people like me, and that is asking why are you pestering me? What value proposition are you trying to get me to consider? This is in email. If there is no interest, say so. So much time is spent trying to avoid a truthful conversation. Moving  on....

And your people are not only a focal point for special attractants in social media but also help create content that is an attractant as well as being the core to an effective content strategy.

Personal Branding and Bonding through your team members shouldnot be a stuffy formal process. 

Here is space for fun, and creativity and  you can actually let  people off the leash a bit. Within bounds and be ready to moderate what happens, but company uniqueness around people is based on quirks and dumb jokes, and foibles and flaws. These make for authentic humans not marketing manikins. 

The usual mix of standard acceptable descriptors are boring and bland. We need to let people show off their unique  qualities. Rock and roll singer, birder, community volunteer, marathoner or mud runner, with pictures and videos to flesh  out the impressions. Find the space and allow your people to shine. Not in the usual cliches, but in real authentic shades of nutty. 

And your people should be authors too. 

Attributing everything to admin is boring and not really playing it safe at all. You can always have an editorial and publishing policy and your writer,  editor, facilitator- can always be the background ghost writer. You just have to stop and configure the rules, and error on the light handed side. You know your people. You know they behave well and understand what you are trying to do. Let them earn space here by earning trust 

Yes, people and personalities are the ultimate tool to give your company a unique quality that helps make friends and influence buyers. Just relax and do it.

Who disagrees? Why? Let us know.
Who  has some experiences  to share here?
What other factors need to considered?
Are there some attributes or key points missed here?