You’ve probably heard this a million times, but the answer of the question

How can I improve my business at this age?

is almost always

Create a social media presence that highlights your expertise.

So I’ve been thinking. If everyone is now doing marketing in social media. What can make you stand out?

Is it delivery? Marketing campaigns? The personality of the company? What is it you can do make yourself stand out more, that doesn’t really require much effort?

I mucked around the web. Some companies are resorting to using games to hook young adults. For example, Hotel 626 by Doritos. And the recent, Duke Nudem (NSFW-Link),

And then there are videos, marketing using YouTube. I believe you’d remember the Awareness Test by London Transport. It currently has 13 million views and is one of the top campaigns in 2008. And how could we forget the Cadbury Eyebrow commercial in early 2009. I’m pretty sure you would remember the ad just by listening to the song.

And then there’s simply, advertisement in the products themselves. Remember when Hotmail was cool in the 1990s? Why did everyone started using hotmail? Because, well, it was free and also, it’s useful. You see the @hotmail address and you instantly felt safe emailing. Also, let’s not forget about them forcing a “Send from a Hotmail account” footer similar to what the iPhone does by default. Advertising through the services. That’s also how GMail came to hype.

But of course, we don’t always have funds for such high-profile advertising. What’s something everyone needs and have, but can be unique enough at times?

Language.

Ever wonder why the Japanese brands get so popular inside Japan so quickly?

Because firstly, their language is unique. Japanese don’t search for “Noodle Tokyo” when they want to find a place to eat. They search for “ラーメン東京”. This automatically narrows down the search to within the Japanese ramen community. Successfully eliminating all the english competitors. Which is, well, a lot.

Secondly, most Japanese advertisement are mobile-compatible. They send emails and SMSes to their mobiles directly. This is isolating their advertising channel.

So, basically, the formula is simple enough.

1. Use a foreign language (wherever possible).
2. Focus on a location.
3. Target a demographic
4. Focus on a single Social Network first.

Most of the time, sending one single message to one single user who would check out your website beats sending ten messages that end up in ten potential customer’s trash bin.

Defining the boundary of your markets is more than just handy social media trick. By focusing your social media presence so that you can own a specific niche online, you’ll also get clearer about your overall marketing and growth strategy. And you better do that fast, because the Japanese have been doing that for years, people are starting to learn.