How To Truly Stand Out From The Crowd
This is the psychelogical hack that controls every decision that everyone makes.
In order to build your brand and your business, you need to stand out.
This is why reading Purple Cow was such a game changer for me. In the book, Seth Godin argues that "it's better to be different than to be better."
When you compete in the same way as everyone else, your only advantage is to be cheaper. But only one business can win the race to the bottom, and it’s not going to be you.
"You can't out-Amazon Amazon."
So if you focus on being different, you can carve out a place in the market.
But that’s easier said than done.
Today, I am going to teach you one of the most important marketing lessons you will ever learn. I am going to teach you how to differentiate yourself.
LFG. 🔥
Understanding Memetic Desire
René Girard started as a literary critic, studying great novels by Dostoevsky, Proust, and Cervantes. Through literature, he discovered a universal pattern of human behavior that became his life’s work.
He coined the phrase "memetic desire."
Let’s do a quick thought experiment.
Why do you want what you want?
Close your eyes for a second and think about what you value, appreciate, desire, and hope to gain in life.
Why do you want those things?
You want them because other people want them.
Most people don’t like hearing this because it challenges our sense of individuality. But society is built around a core set of values, and those values are shaped by randomness and memetics.
We all want what we want because everyone else wants it.
Of course, every person is different, but if you have kids, you can see firsthand how deeply ingrained this is in our nervous systems.
My kids have these little rubber toys we call "squishies." The Little Dude might be playing with his cars, not even thinking about the squishies. Then The Sweet Girl walks in and grabs one. Suddenly, The Little Dude wants the squishy too, and they start competing over it.
We are all just four-year-olds fighting over squishy toys.
How This Plays Out in Entrepreneurship and Marketing
Go on social media. Check out Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and TikTok. They all have the same short form videos functionality.
Yesterday, I noticed that LinkedIn now has a short-form video section. So LinkedIn is following suit as well.
Truthfully, I can’t tell the difference between any of them. They all look the same. They all say the same things.
Take it a step further. Look at the businesses this short form content promotes. Ninety percent of them follow the same business model with the same offers. Instagram has me pegged as an agency owner, so my feed is an endless loop of the same guy telling me he has a secret system to make me $10,000 quickly.
P.S. - This is the first ad I saw on my IG just now and the landing page actually says $10k/ month lolololol.
You can’t make this up.
I can’t tell the difference between any of them.
So why do all these people follow the same formula?
Memetic desire.
We all chase the same things because everyone else wants them, signaling their value.
How to Use Memetic Desire to Your Advantage
If everyone is doing the same thing, how do you stand out?
Do something different.
Here’s a simple example.
As you know, Juliana is building her business as a breathwork instructor. A few days ago, she got caught in the dreaded content perfection loop. She kept recording videos but felt like they weren’t good enough.
She spent hours trying to record a perfect breathwork session and ended up with nothing. She had a vision in her mind of what it was “supposed” to look like, because she’s been bombarded with other examples of what other people are doing and made a sub concious conceptualization on what is valuable.
We talked about how the best thing she could do was just be herself. Her energy is what attracts people in the first place.
Yesterday, I picked up the kids and took them to the playground. By the time I got back, Jules had recorded and posted a video.
That video got her two new email signups and a lead that turned into a sales call. It turns out that Jules is an absolute closer so I am 100% sure that lead will turn into a paying client.
Jules doesn’t have a huge following yet, and she didn’t create something built around a framework or some stupid shit like that. She simply created what she knew was valuable and true to herself. The results speak for themselves.
The best way to stand out is to be yourself. No one else can be you. If you want to disrupt a system, the most effective way is to change what you value.
Eventually, others will copy you, but that’s a good problem to have.
Being Myself Has Always Been My Biggest Advantage
Without question, the most common feedback I get from my audience is that I am unique.
I’ve always been a little weird, but more importantly, I realized early on (by reading Purple Cow) that the best way to stand out is to be different.
Because of this, I haven’t wasted much time on things like branding strategies or personal image-building or having the perfect framework for success. I’ve simply shared my experiences. And in doing so, people relate to me. Once people relate to me, they trust me. Once they trust me, they take me seriously. And through that trust, I’ve built businesses.
Frameworks are very helpful and can absolutely give you the foundational knowledge to get started. But if you stick to a framework long enough, you end up doing what everyone else is doing. Learn the rules and then break the rules.
The best strategy is no strategy. Everything else is just copying what others are already doing because it looks valuable.
But real value comes from within.
Love you guys. Talk to you on Monday.
Tim
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I haven’t written to you for a long time. I am also the one who is highly recommended not to chase after the other one about what they are doing. It is one of my online shop operating tactics.
Keeping customers
The truth is, it is difficult for us to find a product that is totally unique and differentiated from the market. Therefore, the tactics are about how the products can be presented to our target audiences more effectively and efficiently. The method of convincing the audience that we can help them to satisfy their needs and desires or solve their problems while the customers are truly urged for help.
In my opinion, keeping customers is much more difficult than getting one new owing to the vigorous competition in the business environment. As far as getting and keeping customers is concerned, I want to share one of my experiences.
A few weeks ago, a black screen with a charging cable appeared on my iPhone. It demonstrated that my iPhone failed to complete the updating process. Then, I went to one of the nearest iPhone stores to seek help. The problem was solved a few hours later with the help from a Genius Bar colleague.
What makes Apple stand out and be maintained as top in the market for many years?
Apple is not just a phone for people to accomplish the communication. The most terrific tactics for Apple to be successful for many years are not only focusing on their Apple products. What has made Apple successful for many years is their pre-sale and after-sale services – The Genius Bar. Most of the Apple business activities are taking place at the Genius Bar.
Wearing the shoes of the customers, they are all very simple. They just want a chance to hear from them. They just want a place to find help in case of facing any difficulties. They just want to be part of the brand. They just want a chance to share their experience and opinions with each other.
Competing with the lowest price is not a good marketing strategy for all things. At the beginning of the business, you could win with the lowest price strategy. You might be beaten by price or better strategies demonstrated by your competitors in the future. Therefore, there is no difference between the types of products or services that you are selling or providing. Whether you are selling a few dollars for a coffee in Starbucks, or ten thousand dollars for a bag in Gucci. The key is not focusing on the price. The key is focusing on the quality and services. Apple is good at after-scale services.
Use own tactics
I always encourage teenagers to learn something that they are truly interested in. The key is to learn as deeply as possible. The key is to learn something that they are not learning from school. For example, there is not a requirement for them to learn Mandarin anymore. It is the core subject for most of the students in their school environment. Language study is a unique skill helping all teenagers to stand out in their social environments. If five different foreign languages could be learned to professional levels, those unique skills must become a unique technique helping teenagers in setting goals and establishing strategies in their future personal development.
Marketing is all about the process of creating, communicating and delivering value to the customers for the products or services being provided as well as getting and keeping the good customers.
In content marketing, it is about using compelling content to persuade customers to be encouraged and engaged for what services or products are being provided for them to make the purchase decision. Besides cultivating audiences on different social media, tactics could be applied such as offering a unique value proposition (UVP) and an irresistible launch product promotion. Email marketing aims to segment and deliver valuable content to valuable customers. YouTube product demos could be effectively releasing fears, developing authority as well as building concrete trust to target customers. Content writing is sales letters and copywriting in blog posts can further enhance customers’ satisfaction.
Being unique is not only critical in marketing, but also important in setting goals for personal lifetime development. While I asked my former Marketing Manager in regard to my prepared online retail shop, she replied, “Why do the customers purchase products from you?
All we need to do is to do our best, find out the best quality products to enhance the customers trust and keep a lifetime customer relationship.
Ok this is interesting. I’ve been worried about creating content for the marketing funnel: problem aware, solution aware, and the brand aware parts of the Marketing funnel, which, in itself is a framework. But It seems like you are just being yourself, and it works for you without having to worry about the funnel?