In today’s marketplace you’ve got to do more than offer excellent service and product. That’s a given. To separate your small business from all the others offering a similar service you’ve got to be unique and memorable. How do you do that?
Begin by checking out your competition. Look at their websites, blogs, and any printed marketing material. Ask yourself, “What can I do that they’re not doing?”
Taking my own advice, I started doing a little research on a few personal history websites. Here’s what I learned.
Generally personal historians do a good job of extolling the virtues of recording life stories. But there are omissions. This means there’s a real opportunity for you to fill the gaps and set your personal history business apart. Here are 8 ways to be unique:
1. Provide a money back guarantee. This provides real comfort for potential clients. It also says that you’re confident about the quality of your work. I’ve had a 100% satisfaction guaranteed label on my home page for three years now and it’s never been a problem.
2. Contribute to your community. Demonstrate your values by listing your volunteer activities. Consider donating a percentage of your profits to a charity that has an obvious connection to life stories such as the Alzheimer’s Association and Reading is Fundamental.
3. Have a toll free number. Prominently display your toll free number on your home page and other marketing materials. The easier it is for potential clients to talk to you, the better the chance of securing that client.
4. Offer free resources. Put together a series of lists and mini-publications like 15 Great Memoirs Written by Women , The 50 Best Life Story Questions, and Come to Your Senses and Unlock Childhood Memories. [Please feel free to use these or other articles from my blog. All I ask is that you duly credit them.]
5. List prices. There’s no getting away from it, price matters. It’s usually the first thing people want to know. Anything that hints at avoidance can lead to suspicion. I know that personal history fees vary widely depending on the scope of a project. But minimally you can indicate a range. For example: Prices range from $300 for a one-hour video interview to $10,000 for a documentary film biography.
6. Go green. Consumers increasingly expect businesses to limit their environmental impact. Being green can set you apart. How do you reduce your carbon footprint? In your office do you use recycled paper, compact fluorescent bulbs or LED lights? Do you drive a fuel efficient car? Is your printing done by an environmentally responsible company?
Consider buying carbon offsets. In Canada one of the top ranked companies is Less. In the United States check out TerraPass . Make sure that your clients know your commitment to the environment is more than talk.
7. Be an expert.Write articles that offer tips and advice. These can be on your own blog or for sites such as EZineArticles.com and About.com. In time you’ll be seen as an expert!
8. Code of Ethics. If you’re a member of the Association of Personal Historians, (If you’re not, you should be 
) you know that you’re expected to adhere to the APH Code of Ethics. It’s simple to add this as a page to your website. Like the money back guarantee it creates a degree of comfort for your clients.
Conclusion
If I were a potential client in search a personal historian, who would I hire?
Over and above the obvious need to hire a personal historian with a high degree of expertise, the nod would go to the person who was not only outstanding but went that extra mile and met the above attributes.
How are you going to make your business stand out this year? Drop me a line. Love to hear from you.
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I agree, when you step into the area with the larger organizations, you must be prepared. One of the best things you can you do is research those you compete with, regardless of the size or reputation of the organization. Also learn what others are saying about their product or service. That has helped me learn what’s important to my target market also what I can do different to attract more prospects.
Finding the niche is important, there are few new things but there are being rolled out, only slight variations of the same things. Establish your creativity and difference to your audience. Although researching will take time, in the end it will be time well spent.
Excellent post as usual, Dan — but a couple of comments:
You advocate having a money back guarantee, and have never had a problem with your offer. I am leery, however, having had a client who was dissatisfied because some of the pages in her book had more white space on them than she liked. Yes, honestly; she had no issue with the quality of my work, just this cosmetic concern about the amount of white space! There is no way I can afford to refund thousands of dollars (or reprint at a cost of hundreds, if not thousands) for such an inconsequential concern. How do you guard against spurious claims of dissatisfaction?
(BTW, that client came back to me for two more projects; she can’t have been THAT dissatisfied.)
As to your Go Green recommendation; I agree wholeheartedly, but enviro-weenies like me will consider you either insincere or unknowledgeable if you advocate without reservation for compact fluorescents. If you turn off your incandescent lights when you don’t need them and are getting your electricity from clean sources (such as B.C.’s hydro-generated power), they are of much less environmental concern than CFLs, with their potential for mercury contamination in both manufacture and disposal, their use of mercury in the first place, the way they make some people (like me) feel sick, etc. I agree with you about LEDs, though, and will switch myself as soon as they become affordable.
@Pattie Whitehouse. As always, it’s great to receive your comments, Pattie. Thank you. There’s always a risk that someone can take advantage of one’s generosity. But it’s rare. In my contractual agreements I have the client sign off on a proof before I go to the printer. It states clearly that the client is satisfied and requires no further changes in content or layout. Such a clause would help alleviate the kind of problem you encountered.
While I agree with you that the small amount of mercury in the fluorescent lamps poses some handling problems, I trust the David Suzie Foundation’s position. As you know they are one of the world’s most respected environmental organizations. You can read what they have to say about fluorescent bulbs at: http://tinyurl.com/7d363hj