How To Stand Out From Your Competitors

When building a website and any other marketing materials, you want them to be relevant to your target market and stand out. You can see what your competitors are doing as clear as day, and you want a slice of that pie.

Although there’s no one definitive path to take, there are things you can be doing to get started. We’ve compiled a list thing things you can do to stand out from your competitors online:

Think Outside The Box

Every website has the same pages: About Us, What We Do, Contact Us, FAQ, etc. These pages are key and play a very important role, but when it’s all your website has, your users are going to get bored and quickly leave your website for something better. You want a website that’s memorable, keeps users around and most importantly: keeps them engaged.

Your website should be a unique offering that differentiates you from your competitors. How you do that can be up to you! The imagery you use, your tone of voice, even the UX of your website could be part of the deciding factor for shoppers who are yet to become loyal to your brand.

A brilliant example of this is Innocent Smoothies, whose website is simple and fun. They’ve made a conscious decision to use only lowercase letters and their content is playful and easy to recognise.

Interactive Content

Interactive or otherwise, content that adds value should still be at the core of your creations. Interactive content offers a higher engagement rate than standard content such a white papers and blogs, and capture the imagination. Those who chose to engage are more like to be your relevant audience and therefore you’re more likely to capture the relevant data your business needs.

Some of the different types of interactive consider to consider include:

• Webinars

Live video discussion that encourage a community forum.

• Calculators

Allow your users to measure their needs and get answers and numbers back that are relevant to them.

• Surveys

Capture information from your users in the form of a survey and allow your users to share opinions, feedback and experiences.

• Interactive infographics/eBooks

The usual content but with an interactive element that gives users the opportunity to engage and learn.

Video

Did you know that by 2020, online videos will make up more than 80% of all consumer internet traffic?

Video is taking over and it’s showing no signs of slowing down. Be it on your website or social media, desktop or mobile, everyone is watching video everywhere. Using video is a great way to grab the attention of your users by explaining your products and services, making help videos that answer their pains and questions, tour videos etc.

Video comes in all shapes and sizes as well. From talking heads, to voiceovers and animation, there’s a video type for every topic and page on your website. You can embed muted videos to play automatically on your website to draw the eyeline of your users, or you can create a video library where your users can sift through until they find what they’re looking for.

If you’re competitors aren’t using video, it’s a proven and effective method that could give you the edge, and if they are, there’s even more reason you should be creating videos for your business.

So as you build out your content and your marketing strategy, consider all your options and alternatives! There’s nothing to lose and everything to gain.