Differentiate Yourself Using Personal Brand

Differentiation for a self-employed service professional is a clear statement of why your ideal prospects should choose to do business with you rather than any other equally qualified practitioner. To do this, start with your personal brand.
If your ideal prospect is a serious cyclist and you are a chiropractor who specializes in issues unique to cyclists, your brand might be something like:
I help serious cyclists who are training for challenging rides and races to minimize their downtime due to injury during training, so they can ride as many days each week as they choose to. I do this because I'm a serious cyclist myself. I enjoy supporting my fellow cyclists in achieving their cycling goals.
This is a clear statement to serious cyclists as to why they should choose this chiropractor. He's a serious cyclist. He understands their problems and specializes in solving them. He may belong to the same cycling clubs, race at the same races, he may post on email lists they subscribe to, or even be a friend in their online social network. Serious cyclists may travel significant distances to get to his office because they want his services rather than the chiropractor in their neighborhood, who is not a cyclist.
Differentiating Yourself By Being Memorable
Once your ideal prospects know about you, how can you stay on their radar so that they remember to book an appointment with you when they really need your services?
The cycling chiropractor may want to develop specific packages of services for cyclists to support their training for specific events.
He may want to do regular talks or a blog about problems he helps his clients to solve. He may want to offer a calendar or a cycling oriented chotchke that everyone will use regularly that has his name and contact information on it. He may even sponsor cycling events for young people who may also need his services. Even simple things like a bicycle-oriented logo on his business card or a good email signature that gives complete contact information and his brand, will keep him visible every time he hands out a card or posts to a cycling list.
When your target client group knows who you are and why you're an ideal choice for them, staying visible and memorable is the key to turning your ideal prospects into paying clients. Of course you have to deliver on your promise in a way that provides them the value they expect , but assuming you're good at that, once word of mouth kicks in you'll achieve your business growth goals.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nina Price is a Licensed Acupuncturist, Business and Wellness Coach who helps people "push the reset button" on their health, their careers, and the rest of their lives, so that they can prevent burnout and have the professional life they want, no matter what happens.
She is a former Silicon Valley high tech marketing exec who also teaches coaches and service professionals how to become incredibly good at marketing themselves and their practices, so they can rapidly gain more clients and make more money.