How to Stand Out in the Mind of Your Ideal Customers

Patrick McFadden • February 22, 2023

In today's highly competitive market, it's not enough to simply offer a great product or service. To truly stand out from the crowd, you need to connect with your ideal customers on a deeper level. Many experts are telling business owners and CEOs of small businesses they need to be different but often ignore this part of the equation. If your point of difference isn’t valued by your prospective clients, it won’t bring you more business.


In the end, what is most important about any point of difference or unique value proposition is that in the eyes of your ideal client it’s viewed as valuable. This will also play into your criteria for choosing ideal clients and buying process. Any differentiators that aren’t valued by a subset of prospective clients is a wasted effort.


Understanding your ideal customers

The first step in standing out in the mind of your ideal customers is to truly understand them. This involves more than just knowing their demographics and buying habits. You need to understand their pain points, their goals, and their values. This requires a deep dive into their psychology.


One effective way to do this is to create a customer persona. This is a fictional representation of your ideal customer based on research and data. It should include information such as their age, gender, income, education level, job title, and more. But it should also go deeper, including their fears, desires, motivations, and challenges.


Once you have a clear picture of your ideal customer, you can begin to tailor your messaging and branding to resonate with them on a deeper level. This will help you stand out from the competition and build a loyal customer base.


Uncovering the thing you do that ideal clients value

Once you understand your ideal customers, the next step is to uncover the thing you do that they value most. This is a step that may guide every marketing tactic and priority so take your time reading this.


Experience tells me that for some business owners and CEOS (even marketers) claiming the thing you do is going to be the challenge not uncovering it.


You see, the way you talk about how your business is different from everyone else who says they do what you do is not based on what you think but what your ideal clients actually value.


One effective way to uncover this is to conduct customer surveys or focus interviews. People make most of their purchase decisions to either avoid pain or experience some gain. If you can tap into these emotions, you can grow your business. The surest way to discover this pain or gain is to ask. Ask your customers what they value most about your product or service and what makes you stand out from the competition. This can give you valuable insights into what makes your brand stand out and help you refine your messaging and branding.


Customer Research Interview Finding Example:

We were working with a landscaping maintenance service that attracted busy professionals. After interviewing their customers we spotted the following in several summaries – “I just love coming home on maintenance day.”


Their ideal customer experienced a moment of joy in that the yard was taken care of (all year) and it freed up their weekends.


While most of their competitors messaging focused on how they were award-winning and top companies, they began to focus on – “You’ll love coming home on maintenance day” – begging prospects to wonder if that’s true for them with their current service.


Another approach is to gather and analyze your reviews. What’s often overlooked by small business owners in the gathering process of 3rd party proof is the actual words and phrases used by a client. In my experience a good review, testimonial, case study, blurb, or positive unsolicited feedback often implies that this is an ideal customer for your business. They had the right problem, you solved it with the right approach, and they had a great experience.


Measuring the success of your standing out efforts

Once you have identified the thing you do that ideal clients value, the next step is to measure the success of your standing out efforts. This involves tracking metrics such as customer engagement, brand awareness, and sales conversions.


One effective way to do this is to set up a customer feedback loop. This could be in the form of surveys, social media monitoring, or customer service interactions. Collecting feedback from your customers can help you identify areas for improvement and refine your messaging and branding.


Another approach is to track your website analytics. This can give you valuable insights into customer behavior and help you optimize your website for conversions. Look for metrics such as bounce rate, time on site, and conversion rate to see how your standing out efforts are impacting your business.


Conclusion

Standing out in the mind of your ideal customers is essential for today's competitive market. By understanding your ideal customers, uncovering the thing you do that they value most, and measuring the success of your efforts, you can create a brand that resonates with your customers and drives business growth. So take the time to dive deep into your customer psychology, identify your unique value proposition, and track your metrics to create a brand that truly stands out from the competition.


Contact Your Marketing Consultant at Indispensable Marketing

If you’re a small service based business that needs help with differentiating your business or your business’s online presence on Google and other search engines, at Indispensable Marketing we can help. We offer marketing strategy consulting, marketing audits, monthly marketing packages, consultations, exploratory calls or monthly local SEO services. Contact us for more information.



The Missing Layer in AI: Why Judgment, Not Just Data, Will Define the Next Era of Intelligence

By Patrick McFadden • May 2, 2025
Everyone is scaling outputs. Almost no one is scaling judgment.

Everyone Talks About AI Judgment. We Built It.

By Patrick McFadden • May 2, 2025
Ask anyone in tech where AI is headed, and they’ll tell you: “The next leap is reasoning.” “AI needs judgment.” “We need assistants that think, not just answer.” They’re right. But while everyone’s talking about it, almost no one is actually shipping it. So we did. We built Thinking OS™ —a system that doesn’t just help AI answer questions… It helps AI think like a strategist. It helps AI decide like an operator. It helps teams and platforms scale judgment, n ot just generate output. The Theory Isn’t New. The Implementation Is. The idea of layering strategic thinking and judgment into AI isn’t new in theory. The problem is, no one’s been able to implement it effectively at scale. Let’s look at the current landscape. 1. Big Tech Has the Muscle—But Not the Mind OpenAI / ChatGPT ✅ Strength: Best-in-class language generation ❌ Limitation: No built-in judgment or reasoning. You must provide the structure. Otherwise, it follows instructions, not strategy. Google DeepMind / Gemini ✅ Known for advanced decision-making (e.g., AlphaGo) ❌ But only in structured environments like games—not messy, real-world business scenarios. Anthropic (Claude), Meta (LLaMA), Microsoft Copilot ✅ Great at answering questions and following commands ❌ But they’re assistants, not advisors. They won’t reprioritize. They won’t challenge your assumptions. They don’t ask: “Is this the right move?” These tools are powerful—but they don’t think for outcomes the way a strategist or operator would. 2. Who’s Actually Building the Thinking Layer™? This is where it gets interesting—and thin. Startups and Indie Builders Some small teams are quietly: Creating custom GPTs that mimic how experts reason Layering in business context, priorities, and tradeoffs Embedding decision logic so AI can guide, not just execute But these efforts are: Highly manual Difficult to scale Fragmented and experimental Enterprise Experiments A few companies (Salesforce, HubSpot, and others) are exploring more “judgment-aware” AI copilots. These systems can: Flag inconsistencies Recommend next actions Occasionally surface priorities based on internal logic But most of it is still: In early R&D Custom-coded Unproven beyond narrow use cases That’s Why Thinking OS™ Is Different Instead of waiting for a lab to crack it, we built a modular thinking system that installs like infrastructure. Thinking OS™: Captures how real experts reason Embeds judgment into layers AI can use Deploys into tools like ChatGPT or enterprise systems Helps teams think together, consistently, at scale It’s not another assistant. It’s the missing layer that turns outputs into outcomes. So… Is This a New Innovation? Yes—in practice. Everyone says AI needs judgment. But judgment isn’t an idea. It’s a system. It requires: Persistent memory Contextual awareness Tradeoff evaluation Value-based decisions Strategy that evolves with goals Thinking OS™ delivers that. And unlike the R&D experiments in Big Tech, it’s built for: Operators Consultants Platform founders Growth-stage teams that need to scale decision quality, not just content creation If Someone Told You They’ve Built a Thinking + Judgment Layer™… They’ve built something only a handful of people in the world are even attempting. Because this isn’t just AI that speaks fluently. It’s AI that reasons, reflects , and chooses. And in a world that’s drowning in tools, judgment becomes the differentiator. That’s the OS We Built Thinking OS™ is not a prompt pack. It’s not a dashboard. It’s not a glorified chatbot. It’s a decision architecture you can license, embed, or deploy— To help your team, your platform, or your clients think better at scale. We’ve moved past content. We’re building cognition. Let’s talk.

We Found the Missing Layer AI Has Been Waiting For

By Patrick McFadden • May 2, 2025
In every era of innovation, there’s a silent bottleneck—something obvious in hindsight, but elusive until the moment it clicks. In today’s AI-driven world, that bottleneck is clear: AI has speed. It has scale. But it doesn’t have judgment . It doesn’t really think . What’s Actually Missing From AI? When experts talk about the “thinking and judgment layer” as the next leap for AI, they’re calling out a hard truth: Modern AI systems are powerful pattern machines. But they’re missing the human layer—the one that reasons, weighs tradeoffs, and makes strategic decisions in context. Let’s break that down: 1. The Thinking Layer = Reasoning with Purpose This layer doesn’t just process inputs— it structures logic. It’s the ability to: Ask the right questions before acting Break down complexity into solvable parts Adjust direction mid-course when reality changes Think beyond “what was asked” to uncover “what really matters” Today’s AI responds. But it rarely reflects. Unless told exactly what to do, it won’t work through problems the way a strategist or operator would. 2. The Judgment Layer = Decision-Making in the Gray Judgment is the ability to: Prioritize what matters most Choose between imperfect options Make decisions when there’s no clear answer Apply values, experience, and vision—not just data It’s why a founder might not pursue a lucrative deal. Why a marketer might ignore the click-through rate. Why a strategist knows when the timing isn’t right. AI doesn’t do this well. Not yet. Because judgment requires more than data—it requires discernment . Why This Is the Bottleneck Holding Back AI AI can write. It can summarize. It can automate. But it still can’t: Diagnose the real problem behind the question Evaluate tradeoffs like a founder or operator would Recommend a path based on context, constraints, and conviction AI today is still reactive. It follows instructions. But it doesn’t lead. It doesn’t guide. It doesn’t own the outcome. And for those building serious systems—whether you’re running a company, launching a platform, or leading a team—this is the wall you eventually hit. That’s Why We Built Thinking OS™ We stopped waiting for AI to learn judgment on its own. Instead, we created a system that embeds it—by design. Thinking OS™ is an installable decision layer that captures how top founders, strategists, and operators think… …and makes that thinking repeatable , scalable , and usable inside teams, tools, and platforms. It’s not a framework. It’s not a chatbot. It’s not another playbook. It’s the layer that knows how to: Think through complex decisions Apply judgment when rules don’t help Guide others —human or AI—toward strategic outcomes This Is the Missing Infrastructure Thinking OS™ isn’t just about better answers. It’s about better thinking—made operational. And that’s what’s been missing in AI, consulting, leadership development, and platform design. If you’re trying to scale expertise, install judgment, or move from tactical to strategic… You don’t need a faster AI. You need a thinking layer that knows what to do—and why. We built it. Let’s talk.
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