In last week's email, we looked at how to analyse your competitors' marketing by looking at major elements like their primary promise, additional benefits, key features, primary marketing approach and espoused differences.

So right now you should have sitting in front of you a chart with each of these elements for your top 3-5 competitors (if you don't, I suggest you refer back to last week's email and create one).

Your next step is to review each element looking for common themes. Do all your major competitors make the same basic promise to their clients? Or perhaps each solution has the same basic features (e.g. everyone does training but no-one does coaching)?

When I looked at my marketing for Momentum Club recently I noticed that all the major competing marketing programs either had a simple promise of “get more clients” or claimed to help their buyers “get more clients without being pushy”.

In other words they were either going for a general appeal, or for people who felt uncomfortable with marketing and sales.

What I noticed was that many of my clients were talking about how they struggled to find the time for marketing and how useful it was to have bite-sized lessons they could fit into a busy schedule.

And yet no one else seemed to mention this vital aspect in their marketing. Either because their programs couldn't help, or they just didn't realise how important it was.

So I started adjusting my marketing to stress the time-saving side of Momentum Club.

It doesn't take precedence over the core promise of winning more clients, but it's something that makes my program that much more attractive to the many people for whom time is an issue.

You can do the same for each of the elements in your analysis. There's almost always something you can say about your products and services that your competitors can't or don't say.

Don't change everything. Just highlighting your difference in one or two key areas is enough to set you apart and give potential clients a solid reason for choosing you.