At the 34th Annual Meeting of the Healthcare Planning and Marketing Society of New Jersey held earlier in December (see blog post dated December 5, 2013), there was an interesting keynote speaker. While having a speaker at the annual meeting isn’t unusual, this speaker was a little different. He did something I had never seen a speaker at a business function do…he opened…and closed…by singing a song. Yes…he sang a song. I felt like I was watching the Mike Douglas show (If you were born after 1975, Google it or ask your parents). What was noteworthy about this was not his voice, which was more than acceptable, but the fact that he dared to be different. He was not afraid to put himself out there. He wrote creative and interesting lyrics to popular older songs that reinforced the message in his talk. He was different. So, through all that, do I remember what his message was? I do…he actually succeeded in not allowing the gimmick to obscure the message. I am sure you have all seen a great TV commercial or two that everyone talks about, but few remember what company it’s for. That’s because the memorable aspects of the spot didn’t connect with the core message. In the case of our speaker, he succeeded at being different and at the same time he made his point. In fact, he probably made his point better because he was different…. memorable. His difference made his audience pay attention. Do you think your audience is paying attention? Being different (aka unique value proposition) is a journey…a strategy…a culture. In other words, you can be different today, and if you do it well, you’ll find that your competitors are following suit tomorrow, requiring you to further differentiate yourself. That’s why it’s important to stay ahead of the curve… to continually have your eyes open to your competitors and your audiences reaction. Get the blinders off and regularly do an analysis of your competition, and don’t forget those non-traditional competitors…the “indirect competition” that competes for your customer in any way that directs their resources away from you. Here is an example: fast food chains compete with other fast food chains directly, yet they also compete indirectly with grocery stores that sell prepared foods for take out (or frozen pizzas for that matter). This is one example of many, and it shows that the field of competition for your audience’s dollar is far broader than what you might consider. I admire those of you that regularly monitor your competition. Of course, not every competitive move requires a counter move. However, if a particularly innovative strategy that you introduced to the market becomes commonplace, you may need to think about how to alter your approach because your audience can become blinded to your message when an approach becomes saturated. For instance, every hospital and health system now promotes that they have won awards. In my opinion, the audience has reached a point where they find it hard to understand the value of all these awards. Can every hospital really be number one? Perhaps it’s time to focus on telling the awards story in a different way. An example would be approaching the awards message in a way that illustrates how awards have offered a user benefit to a particular individual or population. It’s easy to be different. The trick is to be different in a way that converts your target audience into customers.