There is an uncomfortable truth about business that many entrepreneurs would rather ignore: being the best does not guarantee you will win. You can have a brilliant product, exceptional service and years of expertise behind you, yet still lose business to a competitor that is simply better known.
For example, look at the tech sector. There is no shortage of businesses producing genuinely impressive products, remember the BlackBerry? – yet only a small number become household names. The reason is not necessarily that their products are better. The companies that dominate a market are often those that have invested heavily in making sure customers know who they are, understand what they offer and remember them when the time comes to buy.
Customers cannot buy from a business they have never heard of. They cannot appreciate your expertise if they have never encountered it. However good your proposition may be, you have to get it in front of the right people first.
When we started Purplex in 2004, we were not the biggest or most established marketing agency around. What we did understand was the importance of being visible. We talked clearly about what we did, who we worked with and the problems we could solve. We took opportunities to speak, even when doing so felt uncomfortable.
That visibility mattered. Over time, Purplex became strongly associated with marketing in the glazing and construction sectors because we kept showing up and demonstrating our knowledge. We did not expect the market to discover us by accident. Instead, we made sure people knew who we were and understood what we did.
The same principle applies to entrepreneurs. If you know your market inside out, share that knowledge. If you have an opinion worth hearing, express it. If you have learned something the hard way, tell people about it. You do not need to become a social media personality, but you do need to make it easy for customers and partners to understand what you know and why it matters.
Visibility is not created by doing something once. I often see businesses launch a campaign, publish a few articles or attend an event and then wonder why nothing has happened. Marketing rarely works that quickly. Your audience may need to encounter your business several times before you become familiar. What feels repetitive to you can still be completely new to the people you are trying to reach.
That is why consistency matters so much. With Insight Data, my market intelligence company, the focus was never simply on selling a database. We communicated the value of its knowledge and expertise, turning data into something useful to the market. Over time, that built recognition and credibility.
Being well known also creates opportunities that are difficult to predict. Speaking engagements can lead to conversations you never expected, while PR can put your business in front of people who would never have responded to a cold sales approach. The more familiar your name becomes, the easier it is for opportunities to find you.
None of this means quality is unimportant. A poor product will eventually be found out. But excellence only starts working for you once people know about it. If nobody knows you exist, being better than your competitors counts for very little.
So, if you believe your business is better than its competitors, ask yourself a question: how many potential customers know that? If the answer is not enough, stop waiting for the market to discover you. Get out there, talk about what you do, demonstrate your expertise and keep doing it.
You do not have to be the biggest business in your sector. You do not even have to be the best. But you do need to be the business people remember when they need what you sell. Because when the buying decision is made, familiarity matters. And more often than many entrepreneurs realise, the business that gets remembered is the one that gets the opportunity.
