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Chapter 3
Discover Your Core
Marketing Message
Stand Out in a Crowd
Quite often small business owners will ask me to reveal the most pow-
erful marketing strategy I have seen. I can say without hesitation that
the most powerful marketing strategy has little to do with advertising,
direct mail, Web sites, or referrals. No, before any of those things will
really have any impact on your business, you’ve got to uncover and
communicate how your business is different from every other busi-
ness that says they do what you do. You’ve got to find a way to stand
out and stake your claim on a simple idea or position in your prospec-
tive clients’ minds. Your claim must be powerful and intentional—even
if you must alter some aspect of your business to achieve it. Once this
is done you must create a core message that allows you to quickly com-
municate the difference between you and your competitors or you
will never be able to break from the grip of what I call the “commod-
ity business.”
Get Out of the Commodity Business
Most prospects think that one business is essentially like the other—
a commodity to be acquired by simply picking up the phone. Quite
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