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How do you differentiate yourself from others in your local marketplace? One of the best ways is by focusing on your unique expertise in your IT marketing. Your clients are really buying you, not a box or a server or a software license. In this article, you'll learn how to differentiate yourself.

Don't Become a Commodity

Commodities are cheap and everyone is out price shopping. To avoid this kind of mentality, you must sell 'You Incorporated.' Focus on selling your expertise and the special problem-solving value that you bring to the table.

Don't Be Hidden in Your IT Marketing Materials

Make sure your website lists you as the owner. Don't try to hide the size of your company and try to make it look big by keeping it anonymous. The best thing you can do in IT marketing is focus on selling your background (and the background of any of your business partners and staff). You should also tell people your unique beliefs and philosophies about how you can help small businesses.

Be Unique

One of the biggest questions I get is 'What have you found to be the best, most cost-effective way to get great leads, both in your own business and with some of the consultants that you work with across the country and around the globe?'

The biggest problem that I see is that everyone is going after the same leads with the same worn-out pitch from five years ago. The problem with this is nothing is unique in the message. Nothing is unique in the pitch.

Do Your IT Marketing Materials Look Like Everyone Else's?

If you think you're immune to it, here's the simple test. Get out your business card. Take a look at your home page. Gather up a couple of business cards and home pages from competitors in your local area and see what you are saying that's different. My guess is that everyone is saying, 'We sell PC hardware and software, LANs and service.' This is true' this is what you do. But how do you expect new clients to pick you out over the pack?

Ask yourself; do you want to compete against a dozen potential competitors or a few hundred potential competitors? Do you want to be banging your head against the wall every day trying to compete against everyone that's saying the exact same thing? Or do you want to compete against just a handful of savvy VARs in your area?

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