I think it's important for all businesses to take a step back and reflect on why they do what they do. What's their story?

Not to be fancy, but to identify how your business truly provides value to your customers.

How do you do it better than your competition?

What is your differentiator?

Data is ours.

Data is not our output. We don't sell data. We don't deliver data. We deliver work product and results for our clients.

Work product being websites, web and mobile applications, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Email Campaigns, logo designs and even services like migrating websites, web hosting and pointing a domain name to a different IP address.

Results being increased web traffic, increased lead and increased sales.

Many companies claim to do this, and many can do it very well, but our differentiator is Data.

It's USING DATA, NOT OPINIONS to drive design, development and marketing decisions.

In our digital strategy roadmaps (something we do at the beginning of every digital marketing engagement), we use data to drive action. We look at Google Analytics, Social Media Insights and Competitive Analytics.

In Web Design projects and long term strategy engagements, we use Heatmapping and A/B Testing data to drive actions and increase conversions.

What does your company, your business, your organization do?

Okay, great. But WHY does it do that thing or those things better than your competition.

That answer. That second answer - is your differentiator.

Identify your differentiator and make it permeate throughout your internal culture, and brand messaging. Make your clients and constituents FEEL your differentiator, and you will see increased productivity, fulfillment and bottom line.

If your business has MICRO problems, identifying your differentiator and owning it is the first step towards solving those problems at a MACRO level.

Thanks for reading, and have a great day!

Paul Hickey, Founder / CEO / Lead Strategist at Data Driven Design, LLC has created and grown businesses via digital strategy and internet marketing for more than 10 years. His sweet spot is using analytics to design and build websites and grow the audience and revenue of businesses via SEO/Blogging, Google Adwords, Bing Ads, Facebook and Instagram Ads, Social Media Content Marketing and Email Marketing. The part that he’s most passionate about is quantifying next marketing actions based on real data.