When money’s tight and every pound counts, learning how to stand out from competitors can feel like a luxury you’ll get round to later. It isn’t. It’s the thing that keeps you in business.
Times are hard across the UK right now. Costs are up, customers are cautious, and plenty of business owners are working longer hours just to stand still. In that kind of climate, it’s natural to keep your head down, copy what seems to be working for everyone else and hope nobody notices you’re struggling.
But here’s the uncomfortable truth: when you blend in, people stop seeing you. And when people stop seeing you, they stop choosing you.
The good news? You already have the thing you need to fight back. Every business has something that makes it different – the way you work, the people behind it, where you come from, what you refuse to compromise on. The trick is remembering what that is, owning it, and putting it out into the world for everyone to see.
This guide walks you through how to do exactly that, using our own story here at Eighty3 as a case study.
More than 20 years ago, marketing author Seth Godin stood on a TED stage and told a room full of business people that “the riskiest thing you can do now is be safe” [L3]. His point was simple. Drive past a field of brown cows, and you won’t give them a second glance. Drive past a purple cow, and you’ll be telling people about it for weeks.
Godin argued that “very good is boring”. Being decent, reliable and a bit like everyone else isn’t a strategy – it’s camouflage. The word he used instead was “remarkable”, which literally means worth making a remark about.
That idea has aged remarkably well. If anything, it matters more now. Your customers are bombarded with choice, scrolling past hundreds of businesses a day. The safe, middle-of-the-road option is the one they forget first. When budgets are squeezed, people don’t spend money with the business they can barely remember. They spend it with the one that stuck.
When you’re firefighting, it’s easy to lose track of what made your business special in the first place. So start by stepping back and asking yourself some honest questions:
Why did you start this business? What frustrated you about how others were doing it?
What do your best customers say about you when they recommend you to a friend?
What do you do that your competitors don’t – or won’t?
What’s your story? Where are you from, and how has that shaped the way you work?
What would you never do, even if it would make you more money?
Write the answers down. Ask your team. Ask a few loyal customers. You’re looking for the patterns – the things that come up again and again. That’s the raw material of a brand that can genuinely stand out from competitors.
Once you know what makes you different, the temptation is to sand off the rough edges so you look more “professional”. Resist it.
Gary Vaynerchuk has built his entire career on self-awareness. As he put it recently, “I just know who I am, and I know what I’m good at, and I know what I’m not good at” [L4]. He doesn’t waste energy pretending to be something he isn’t. He doubles down on what he’s good at and accepts the rest.
That’s a powerful lesson for any business owner. Trying to copy a competitor’s playbook is exhausting, and it rarely works, because what works for them was built on who they are. Your strengths, your personality and even your quirks are the things nobody else can copy. A slightly unusual way of doing things, a strong opinion, a no-nonsense attitude – these aren’t weaknesses to hide. They’re the reasons people will pick you.
Knowing what makes you unique is only half the job. If it lives only in your head, it isn’t doing anything for your business. It needs to show up everywhere your customers meet you.
That starts with your brand identity. Your logo, colours, typography and imagery should feel like you – not like a template that could belong to any business on the high street. If your brand looks the same as everyone else’s, all that hard-won personality disappears the moment someone sees it. Professional brand and logo design turns what makes you different into something people can see and remember instantly.
Then look at your words. Your website, your emails, your quotes and your signage should all sound like the same person talking. If you’re friendly and down to earth in person, don’t hide behind stiff corporate language online.
Standing out isn’t a one-off exercise. It’s about turning up consistently, so that people start to recognise you before they even read your name.
Social media is one of the most effective places to do this, especially for smaller businesses. Show the people behind the business. Share your opinions. Let customers see how you work and what you care about. The businesses that do well on social media are rarely the most polished – they’re the most human.
We know that’s easier said than done when you’re already stretched. That’s why we offer social media management, taking the day-to-day posting off your plate while keeping your voice front and centre.
It also changes how you judge the result. If we’ve agreed the problem, the audience and the message up front, you’re not asking “do I like it?” You’re asking “does it work?” That’s a far better question, and a far easier one to answer.
It’s also why we’re happy to push back. If something in the work doesn’t answer one of these six questions, we’ll say so. Not to be awkward, but because we’d rather have a slightly uncomfortable conversation in week one than an expensive one in week six. That honesty is part of what you’re paying for.
Sometimes you’re too close to your own business to see it clearly. Over the years, small compromises creep in: a new font here, a copied tagline there, a website that no longer reflects what you actually do. Before you know it, the thing that made you special has quietly faded.
A brand audit is an honest outside look at how your business comes across and whether that matches who you really are. We sit down with you, look at everything from your logo to your social feeds, and help you work out what to keep, what to fix and what to shout louder about.
We practise what we preach. Eighty3 is proudly rooted in Brierley Hill, in the heart of the Black Country, and our story goes back to 1999. We could have dressed ourselves up as a slick, anonymous agency that could be based anywhere. Instead, we leaned into what makes us different.
Our motto is “Positivity through creativity”, and we truly believe it. It’s not a line we wheel out for the website – it shapes how we work every day. When times are hard, it would be easy to get cynical, cut corners or chase the cheapest job going. We’d rather bring energy, optimism and fresh ideas to every brand and website we create.
But the biggest thing that sets us apart is our people. Every member of our team is distinct, with their own skills, traits and personality – and we don’t hide any of it.
Dan leads on design, brand consultations and ideation, and he’s usually out networking – you can’t miss him in a big room, thanks to the height and the beard. Bec leads on all things development and works incredibly hard at anything she turns her hand to. She’s also a big part of our local community, sitting on steering groups and advisory boards, sharing her knowledge and lecturing at colleges.
Emily is extremely kind, conscientious and a fantastic photographer. Elijah runs support for the customers whose websites we look after, and he’s our resident videographer too. Tobi, our newest team member, is hardworking and a brilliant illustrator. And Lindsey keeps us all on track – organised, proactive and never happier than when she’s working through a list.
You’ll see all of them, as they really are, across our website and social media. When you work with Eighty3, you know exactly who you’re getting.
And whoever you’re working with, you’ll get the same thing: a team that always goes the extra mile. Whether it’s a quick question, a last-minute tweak or a problem that isn’t strictly ours to solve, we’ll roll our sleeves up and help. That’s what people remember about working with us, and it’s something no competitor can copy, because it comes from who we are.
Our Black Country heritage is part of that too. It’s a region built on hard graft and making things properly, and we’re proud to carry that into everything we do.
Here’s the bit we want you to take away. You decide what people think of you. Not your competitors, not the economy, not the algorithm. You.
Every post, every email, every logo and every conversation is a chance to show the world who you really are. Embrace what makes you unique, lean into it, and put it out there for everyone to see. That’s how you stand out from competitors – not by shouting louder, but by being unmistakably yourself.
If you’re not sure what makes your business stand out any more, or you know it but can’t quite get it across, let’s talk. Whether it’s a brand audit, a fresh identity or a hand with your social media, get in touch and we’ll help you rediscover what makes you remarkable.
