I happened to be walking through a school the other day, and overheard a teacher talking to her students about Noah’s Ark. As you recall, Noah and his wife invited two representatives of each species to enter the Ark. This got me thinking. Was Kinetics a shining example within our sector; a strong enough representative of our species, to warrant an invite from Noah and his wife? If Noah and his wife judged us against our competition, would they deem us Ark-worthy?
Albeit every organization is a bit different from their competitor, simply because the people who work there are different and its processes might be different. But “a bit” is a key word here. There is a baseline of services and attributes every organization has to have to qualify to compete for customers. Sometimes those services and attributes have to be adjusted to reflect a new competitor, new technology or new consumer preferences. Regardless, there will always be a minimum set of attributes that all organizations have to exhibit to catch the attention of consumers – our Noahs, if you will. Now the question – is the “bit” that is different important to our Noahs and does it set us apart from our competitors for a spot on the Ark? In some cases that “bit” is superior performance around the baseline attributes. In other cases it is the price/value proposition. And, finally, there is that something else – an added feature – that makes an offering stand out. The key is that whatever that difference is, it needs to be significant enough to be noticed, appreciated and judged to be Ark-worthy.
As you head off for summer vacation, when you are inclined, give that question a thought. It’s a big question, because it not only challenges your communication efforts, but also your core value proposition. More changes are coming to the marketplace – the emergence of Millennials as our main audience and the continued incursion of technology into more corners of our lives. Even if you couldn’t get an invitation now, you might be able to earn one down the road.