3 Tips for Unusual Businesses: How to Attract Customers

Ava Johnson
4 min readOct 3, 2023

It is likely that your town has enough restaurants or your city has sufficient shopping marts and maybe it does not need another gym. If you have been thinking about targeting these industries, you still can. However, it’ll take a lot of effort to achieve success in a competitive market.

On the contrary, unusual businesses are immensely rewarding and help you to stand out in this saturated market. For instance, have you ever heard of a spiritual house blessing service that not only brings positive energy but also leaves a lasting impact on your home? Well, that’s an example of extraordinary businesses that we are talking about.

So, if you are planning to start a solo business that ventures into such lesser-known territories, more power to you, because that takes real courage and effort!

However, running an unusual business is no cakewalk; it requires a lot of hard work and rigorous efforts to keep your business on the right track. To help you out we have put together some tips and ideas that will help you scale your unique business effortlessly.

Check them out!

1. Embrace and Introduce Your Uniqueness

Owning a unique business is a great way to stand out from the crowd and take your business towards the path of success! This is because, as an unusual business, you are more likely to generate interest. What makes this fact even more concrete is the advent of social media, where people constantly talk about and recommend new and unique products or services to their followers. So, don’t be afraid of showcasing your oddities and quirks. Your uniqueness makes you memorable and attracts customers to your business.

You can use several techniques to showcase the individuality of your business — by making use of social media or creating a strong visual display near your store. For instance, imagine you own a cafe that allows customers to bring along their pets, who are offered some special treats. You can let your customers know about this unique offering by using attractive displays like teardrop flags. These flags will dance in the breeze, grabbing attention, conveying your message and sparking interest.

2. Create a Fanbase by Community Engagement

Community engagement is a creative method to build a connection with your target audience and at the same time increase your business’s visibility to a wider market. It doesn’t matter if you are participating in or sponsoring certain activities, by encouraging engagement you get a chance to break barriers and stand out among the crowd, creating a loyal customer base in the process.

Always remember that this engagement is not just about increasing your revenue, but it also means that your customers will make good memories and associate positive experiences with your business that will help you in the long run. For instance, imagine you own a bookstore that specialises in the mystery genre. You can organise mystery-solving nights, once a month, which will attract mystery enthusiasts to your store whilst creating a bond amongst the community.

3. Utilise Unconventional Advertising Techniques

Traditional marketing techniques work great for most businesses, we get that! However, unusual advertising techniques can often do wonders for your business, especially if you’re offering something out-of-the-box. Having a non-direct marketing approach that gives your customers something to enjoy outside of work, learning new things, or collaborating with talented individuals, can give you valuable information to create better strategies.

One such unusual marketing example that you can take inspiration from is the interactive billboard created for a Swedish hair care brand called Apotek Hjärtat. This digital billboard was installed at a subway station in Stockholm, featuring a model with long, flowing hair. However, what made this billboard unique was its response to the incoming trains. As a train approached the station, sensors detected the train’s movement, which triggered the display to change as if the model’s hair was being blown by the wind.

To Sum It Up

Keeping up with our modern world’s business needs and staying ahead of your competition is challenging enough for a mainstream business, let alone your unusual offerings can make it more difficult. Simply put, being a business owner is not easy as it comes and requires unique strategies to become successful.

By implementing the tips discussed in this article we are trying to make the process easier for you. So, go ahead, utilise these practical strategies to attract customers and create your path towards success!

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