Brand Against the Machine: How to Build Your Brand, Cut Through the Marketing Noise, and Stand Out from the Competition

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Know Your Enemy

BE CAREFUL OF PUTTING too much focus and attention on a competitor. You don't want to fall into the trap of obsessing and worrying about what your competition is doing. Focus on your business, and let them worry about themselves.

Too often businesses make the mistake of examining what everyone in their industry does. This is a mistake because your business will end up looking like everyone else’s. If you want ideas and inspiration for your business, look at industries outside of your own. Stop following the same approach as everyone else!

My friend and mentor Craig Proctor did that with his real estate business. Craig noticed that virtually every car dealer offered a trade-up program. You know how it works. Come in to buy one of their cars and they buy yours. It's been done for ages. Craig took what was very common for one industry and brought it into his. He implemented a trade-up program for homebuyers. If you move up and buy one of his listings, he'll buy your existing home. This value proposition was a huge boost for his brand and business. The real estate industry had never seen anything like it.

Craig's competition hated it, obviously. They were too focused on how everyone else was doing it to look outside their industry for innovative ideas. Craig has been one of the top RE/MAX agents in the world for what seems like forever. He's achieved that by thinking outside of the box and doing what his competition is afraid to do.

Competition is not a bad thing. ...