At The Institute Of Wow, we concentrate on showing business owners how to “stand out from the crowd” through using Wow Factor Marketing techniques.
In fact, my company tagline is “Learn To Deliver The Unexpected!
Successful entertainers such as Pink, The Beatles, Elvis, David Bowie has demonstrated that they subscribe to this mantra – but what intrigues me is that 95% of businesses simply follow the flock” and look the same as everyone else.
Seth Gordon nailed it with his book “The Purple Cow” where he highlighted that one needs to be very different in a herd of cattle if they want to stand out.
In My own book, How To Wow, I preach a similar philosophy and educate business owners how to “be different and stand out!” (By the way if you want to get a copy of my book, it is available at www.theinstituteofwow.com)
It amazes me that no car mechanic offers a carwash with their service and the surprises you with a box of Cadbury chocolates on the passenger seat when you come to pick up your vehicle.
I’m amazed when you book at a prestigious hotel (or any hotel for that matter) they don’t have a beautiful tray of fresh cut-up fruit delivered to your room 5 minutes after you check in!
And it also amazes me that restaurants don’t wow you with a free coffee after you just spent $100 on the meal!
But that’s the way it is – and I guess that’s why 95% is only owned by the 5% of the population.
A terrific “wow factor” that makes this cake shop stands out from the crowd!
So often I walk past bakeries and cake shops and shake my head in disillusionment on how lame their window display is.
Let’s face it, the window or the showcase of a bakery or cake shop is as important as the homepage is to one’s website but looking at some patisseries and bakeries, you wouldn’t know this as their window display are woeful.
That’s why I had to take some photos of this fantastic cake shop I walk past in Melbourne Australia last week.
Have a look at these photos and I am sure your first reaction would be “Wow!”
This cake shop operator knows, how to “stand out from the crowd” – and his store was “jammed” (excuse the pun) as a result of his entrepreneurial and theatrical flair.
As I’ve read on the bottom of many of my motivational calendars, “To make a difference, you have to be different” and the owner of this cake shop certainly lives by this mantra – the store was definitely very different from its competitors in the same street and suburb.
This store was in a café precinct in one of Melbourne’s suburbs and for me he won the Academy Award for “wow factor ambiance!”
Luna Park and Bag Store also “get it!”
Whilst in Melbourne, I visited St Kilda and even if I was in my “stand out from the crowd” expedition mood, I had to take a photo of the famous amusement facility, Luna Park.
Only one word, “WOW!”
And walking past a “Bags” fashion store, I noticed another “wow factor way” of attracting attention – and you’ll see the phot here with the heading “STICK OUT.”
If you have a bricks and mortar offline business, take a leaf out of the books of these business owners and remember that one of your major marketing objectives should be to stand out from your competitors.
My mantra is “Same Is Lame” – and I personally teach business owners how to think and look differently, so that they attract attention and leave their competitors in their wake.
So this same “stand out from the crowd mantra” applies to an online business.
So no matter what industry you are in, sit down and work out what you need to do in terms of creating wow factors that make you stand out from the crowd.
