How To Make Your Business Stand Out By Offering Great Products!

There’s a lot that can be done to make your business stand out in the sea of other businesses.

One of the most enduring, most effective strategies?

Offer an excellent product.

Like, so ridiculously wonderful that your clients end up marketing for you.

It sounds basic, right? But I can’t tell you how many business owners open up shop with a subpar offering. (Don’t let this be you!)

When it comes to providing an excellent offering for your customers, here’s what you need to consider:

• Product (or Service) Quality 
• Market fit
• Branding
• Product Differentiation
• Product design
• Pricing strategy 
• Sustainability

1. Product (or Service) Quality:

One mistake small business owners make is believing they need to be the best in their industry.

With your limited finances, how do you intend to be the best when corporations have seemingly unlimited budgets in your industry?

How do you compete with the brick-and-mortar business down the street if investors back them and not you?

It’s simple. Rather than being the overall best, be the best in one aspect.

When asking people why they chose Store A over Store B when both sold the same kind of stuff, I’d hear statements like, “Store A’s products just have this certain quality to them” or “Store A just hits different.”

Some ways your business could stand out using product quality are:

• Keeping a consistent product quality
• Making durable products
• Maintaining your products to a certain standard
• Providing well-needed features in your products (get feedback from surveys)
• Using beautiful product designs
• Creating products that are easy to fix or maintain
• Creating sustainable and eco-friendly products

The principles I listed above can also be applied to services if you run a service-based business. 

2. Market Fit:

If you’re selling products or offering a service that nobody is interested in, then what you have is a hobby, not a business.

Before deciding on your product lineup or service, conduct market research and, if possible, a survey.

You may love making hats, but if you live in a neighborhood where people rarely wear hats, then your business isn’t suited for that neighborhood.

Here’s how you can determine if your product fits the market:

• Check the demand by exploring local online forums, sales rates in local shops, scarcity, and conducting small-scale local research.
• Assess if you can solve a problem or fulfill a need, such as hats for sunny climates, picnic boxes for beach parties, or ice cream for construction workers.
• Understand your target market, including their pain points, preferences, and specific needs.

3. Branding:

Think of this simple formula: brand = identity.

When developing your lineup (products or services), ask yourself, “What should people think of when they see my logo?”

Once you’ve crafted your offering to convey that message, establish a branding style that reflects it—whether through your logo, your approach, or your packaging.

For example, when people discuss my services, I want their listeners to think “Effective, efficient, simple.”

Letting your brand communicate on your behalf is key to standing out.

4. Product Differentiation

I’ve been watching entrepreneur shows lately—Dragons’ Den, Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch, Planet of the Apps, etc.

One common theme across these shows is that entrepreneurs try to showcase a unique approach, often called a Unique Selling Proposition (USP).

This is where you determine why customers will choose you over similar shops in a district, or why a potential customer will order from your website again.

You don’t want to forget the big name: USP. Just think of a way you can better satisfy your target audience in one aspect. Consider:

• Better packaging and delivery if your target audience complains about such.
• Affordable pricing if competitors’ prices are too high.
• Excellent customer support if your competitors have terrible ones—you’d be surprised how many people would patronize you for that peace of mind.
• Offering products with better durability.
• Providing complimentary services or reception if your business is service-based.

It doesn’t necessarily have to be a big addition; sometimes it’s the smaller things that make the difference.

5. Product Design:

Two days ago, I was house hunting with a friend, Favour, and despite the nice rental costs, the house designs were terrible.

I mean, how would you build a one-bedroom apartment, and the kitchen looks like an afterthought? “We forgot the kitchen, oh! Let’s just create a tiny cubicle and slot a sink there.”

Just as that was a serious turn-off for me, your product design can affect your customers’ perceived value of your lineup.

You could be doing everything right, getting visitors but no sales, and the cause for that may likely be your product designs.

If you craft hats, there’s no need to make the hats unreasonably heavy.

There’s no need to make a phone’s casing just as heavy as the phone, or necklaces that conduct heat.

Think ergonomics, aesthetics, usability, customer-centered design, material selection, sustainability, and brand consistency.

6. Pricing Strategy:

How do you put a price on your product or service? How can you tell its value?

To be honest, many of us budding entrepreneurs price our lineup by checking competitors.

However, if you use the general pricing and don’t consider your operating costs, you could likely be running at a loss.

Also, your lineup doesn’t necessarily need to be the most affordable because you’re new to the market, nor does it need to be the most expensive in a bid to make money fast.

Don’t undervalue yourself, and don’t kill the goose that lays the golden egg.

There are different ways you can price your business, but that’s a topic you can find here.

7. Sustainability:

If you go on Reddit now and ask what’s the best laptop brand to buy, chances are you’ll see MacBooks and ThinkPads in your comments section.

Why? These laptop brands have established a reputation for being reliable and durable.

Would you buy a product from a business if you knew you’d need to change it soon, or would you rather patronize a business that’s known for selling long-lasting products?

Apart from that, with everyone being eco-conscious, it’s best to use eco-friendly products—products that can be recycled, renewed, or upcycled.

Lastly, think efficiency: don’t use more materials than you should, and don’t use more processes than you should.

“If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.”

Final Thoughts

In our current era of emerging markets, for small businesses, standing out lies in the smaller things– not the bigger things.

This time I shared how you can stand out with your lineup; next, I’ll share how you can stand out with your pricing strategy.

If you found value in this article, head to my homepage to find more like this.

You could also listen in on my podcast, A (Mostly) Stay-at-Home Mom, where I share weekly tips for busy moms earning or looking to earn a side income. Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more!