Graham McGregor: A valuable marketing lesson from The Naked Cleaner

Matshona Dhliwayo once said: "A pink rose among a thousand white daisies stands out; be likewise." Photo / 123RF

COMMENT: A newspaper headline in the New Zealand Herald caught my eye a few days ago.

The headline read: Aussie nude cleaning business slammed by Councillor.

The story talks about a cleaning business in Australia and how their point of difference was that all their cleaners wear nothing or very little when they cleaned the inside of your home.

As the owner of the company put it, "our cleaners get paid a whole lot more to wear a whole lot less."

A local city councillor had given a couple of interviews saying the business was disgraceful and thought the police should be notified.

It turns out no laws are being broken and the naked cleaning service is just a cheeky way to differentiate their business in the crowded cleaning market.

However the business has now gained a huge amount of publicity as a result of the councillor's comments. (And while it was doing very well before the controversy it is doing even better after it.)

Here's the valuable marketing lesson I got from this story...

Invent a new category for the service that you offer and you'll instantly stand out in a crowded market.

Here are a couple of examples to illustrate the idea of creating a new category for the service that you offer.

Example 1: Imagine if you called yourself "The Lazy Fitness Trainer" and that you worked exclusively with clients who wanted to get in great shape by working out for only 15 minutes twice a week

If you did this you would certainly stand out and be noticed.

(I actually worked out with a personal trainer close to 20 years ago who got me in great shape by working out for 15 minutes twice a week. He was a body building champion and had his clients use weights to create a toned body fast. He didn't call himself The Lazy Fitness Trainer however it would have been a great way to create a new category for the fitness training service that he offered.)

Example 2: The Ten Minute Sales Coach

This is a new category I have just created for my own business.

I have a new service being released in mid-August that will help businesses who sell a service to create higher sales and delighted clients in only ten minutes a week.

So by calling myself The Ten Minute Sales Coach I have now created a brand new category in a very crowded consulting market.

(By the way, if you sell a service and would like to enjoy higher sales and delighted clients in only 10 minutes a week just send me an email. I'll give you full details on this new service when it is released.)

Example 3: The 'Invitation Only' Dentist

Paddi Lund is a super successful dentist in Australia. Yet his business is not listed in the phone book and he actually has a confidential phone number that he only gives to his clients. There is no signage on his building either. Paddi only takes on new clients who have been referred by one of his existing patients. In other words he works by 'Invitation Only'. So he is the 'Invitation Only' Dentist.

Summary:

If you can create a new category for the service that you offer it could potentially work very well to make your business stand out and be noticed in a very crowded market place.

"A pink rose among a thousand white daisies stands out; be likewise." - Matshona Dhliwayo

Action Exercise:

What is a brand new category you could create around the service you sell?

- Graham McGregor is a Marketing Advisor and helps businesses who offer an expensive service to quickly attract ideal new clients. You can download his brand new 106 page marketing guide 'The Expensive Service Marketing Solution' at no charge from www.TheExpensiveServiceMarketingSolution.com