A lot of entrepreneurs are in normal, run-of-the-mill industries.
Heck, I’m in the web design/development space. I did a Google search and within a few minutes I found 26 agencies just in Atlanta. That doesn’t even include the number of freelancers that are out there. If I had spent more than 10 minutes searching, I would have probably tripled or quadrupled my count.
When I found these agencies, I tallied up the types of services they offered:
- Web
- SEM
- SEO
- Branding
- Content writing
- Social media
- Photography
- Videography
20 out of 27 companies offered 4 or more services from that list. From a messaging and aesthetic perspective, most of these companies looked the same from the outside (a handful of employees, lots of services, and nothing stood out). It was hard to tell which areas in which they excelled.
Now, none of this is angled as a critique. There are a lot of fantastic companies out there, everyone has their specialty, and being small is a competitive advantage. My comments are purely an observation that should be reflected on.
My key reflections from this research:
- Especially if you are in a line of business with a lot of competitors, you have to be different. Look at 5-10 websites of your competition. What is different about them than you? If that question isn’t answerable, then it may be time to rethink the value proposition.
- Out of the agencies I researched, I remember the three that have a single primary service. I can tell you all three of their names and what their aesthetic looked like. They have their one value proposition locked in. I left their site feeling confident they could do the job. What is the one “win” you give to clients?
- Not many of them showed examples of how they solved real problems. Client logos were on various pages and there were plenty of portfolio pieces on display. However, none of those sub-pages left me feeling confident in their services. These types of pages need to invoke confidence and excitement.
I am also asking myself these same questions.
