I remember my freshman year of high school. I was still sort of the new kid (I moved the year before) was short, going through my "awkward stage", had braces and was just a little different. This was also one of the hardest years of my life. The other kids weren't mean, but they also didn't accept me for who I was. It took me almost a year to find out where I fit in. I am really glad that business is not like this.
When I was in business school they kept talking about finding your niche. Sometimes you don't have to find a niche and you create mass appeal. For example, let's look at the Swiffer. There are a million ways to clean the floors. You can use a broom, a mop, get on your hands and knees, a waxer, a buffer, a sander, etc, etc, etc. About 10 years ago the people at P&G introduced the world to the Swiffer. While cleaning floors is not a new concept, the way the Swiffer cleans is. The Swiffer has replaceable pads that are sort of like dirt magnets. While it's not the same as mopping (they have the Swiffer WetJet to solve that problem) it's a good way to keep your floors clean. I don't know if I know anyone who does not own a Swiffer. It's different, but it has mass appeal. Being different and unique can be good. Time to gather around children, it's story time.
This summer, a girl I know won a free engagement photo session. I love pictures and photography. I also love looking at wedding and engagement photos. Who doesn't like pictures of people that are in love? It's almost as great as looking at pictures of babies and puppies. So off I went to Beautiful Union Portraits. I was extremely impressed with the pictures that I saw. They weren't the traditional sit-here-pose-and-make-it-look-like-it's-spontaneous kind of pictures. While on their website, I looked through their blog and their gallery. What I found was incredible. They do wedding pictures with a photo journalistic style. It catches the emotion of the day. They state that they will do the traditional stand up and pose at the front of the church photos, but what really caught my eye was everything else. They really have an eye for detail and for beautiful photography. I was completely blown away. I hope one day, if I get married, that they will take the photographs for me. This style may not suit everyone, but it's different, it's unique, and it really appealed to me. And that's why I liked them, they're different. Anyone with a good camera can take a nice picture, but it's something else to take photos that make a complete stranger feel like they were there.
Happy Marketing!
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