How to Stand Out in a Crowded Issue Space
In the state of the world today, most people are bombarded with content, entertainment, and advertisements every day. There is a constant effort to grab our attention. When it comes to policy and public affairs, it’s no different.
From the environment to housing, transportation, or homelessness, issue spaces are crowded. If you are working to stand out in the crowd, you’ll need to create a purposeful and focused strategy. This article outlines a few of the tactics you can use to set yourself or your organization apart amid a saturated issue space.
Find your unique angle
The first thing you can do to ensure you set yourself apart from others is to identify what makes you different from the rest. If you’re an organization working to address homelessness, what makes you stand out from the other organizations working to do the same thing?
While it’s not a requirement for you to be different to be successful, it is important that you identify why what you do is unlike anyone else. In other words, what is your hook? This will help you differentiate your work, reinforce and grow your brand and your following, and raise money or support. In business, it’s often critical to identify why you are unlike other products on the market. It’s valuable to do the same in your issue space.
If you are running for office but share a lot of the similar priorities as other candidates, use your personal story and “why” you’re running to stand out. This will help people remember you in the sea of candidates asking for their attention and vote. Find what makes you different and highlight it.
Double down + make it your brand
Once you’ve identified what makes you unique or different (and once you’ve ensured it resonates with your audience) double down on it. Use that differentiating factor in your communications to help ensure the message is received.
Incorporate this messaging into your social media posts, newsletters, in the remarks you make, in the content on your website, and any other mediums through which you communicate with your audience. One of the key pillars of your strategy should be to ensure people begin to associate your differentiating factor with who you are. This is how you will start to carve out your spot in a crowded issue space. When people think about your issue, they will be more likely to think of you and your unique differentiator.
Using the example from above, if you are an election candidate without any major policy differentiators (compared to the rest of the candidates in the field), make your story - or any unique relationship you have to key issues - a key talking point and focus of your communications. Use your personal story as a thread throughout your communications.
Find your target and be specific
Another key tactic to stand out is to lean into niches. It sounds counterintuitive, but the truth is the more specific and personalized you can get the more you connect with people. The way you do this is by determining who your target audience is – then speak directly to them.
As you learn about your audience’s pain points and what drives them, you can start using that language in your messaging. Doing this will make them feel more seen, heard, and understood by you, creating a deeper connection compared to the other content that’s constantly whizzing past them. As you learn more about your audience, you can further nurture and cultivate this connection through your content and remarks.
Conclusion
As individual and collective media spaces grow more and more crowded with content, it’s increasingly important to find a way to stand out. This article outlines three tools to help you differentiate yourself in a crowded policy space. Those tools include:
Finding your unique angle
Doubling down on your unique angle and making it your brand
Finding your target audience and communicating a tailored, unique message to them
Prioritize these tools and you will start to set yourself apart from the rest of your competition.
