A lot of people will tell you that being in a saturated market is a one way ticket to becoming a commodity. I say no way. If and it’s a big IF…If you refuse to be in the "saturated" market. Do you have a choice? Yes.

What? Explain!

OK so here’s the deal:
I think they are absolutely right if you do nothing but what everyone else does.
But wait? Isn’t there a market leader in every market, saturated or not?
Why do you think this is?
Who defined the market for them, they or the market?
Exactly.
Now are you seeing it?

Stop bitching. Commoditization is no one’s fault but yours.

If you’ve not already picked up on the reality that ideas are more important than things in the world v2.0, you’re already behind. You are only what people THINK you are, and they won’t think much if you can’t deliver what they believe they want.

Q: So how do you deliver what they believe they want?

A: By being in charge of defining your greatness.

If your industry’s standard is to be big, then you make it cool to be small, not bigger.
Be what you must be to create customers. It’s that simple (and that difficult).

The mind is infinite in terms of what possibilities it can accept. How you define possibilities is entirely up to you. Saturated markets are like herds. The best you can ever do with a "be the top in my category" mentality is possibly stay towards front. That won’t make you great. That won’t make you loved. That won’t even make your relevant past the next downturn. That will just get you to commodityville faster.

Are you getting me? Do you see why "innovate or die" is a ral credo and not a tired buzzword like the others? As the world becomes more and more connected survival no longer means fitting in it means standing out. To stand out you have to be outstanding in people’s minds. But to build your empire of the mind (the killer brand), today’s new world demands that you follow your own path. There is no other option. Without any aspiration for the unique greatness latent in you to come out, you will fade. The world is tired of commodities, and if you stay one, it will tire of you.

If you think you are a commodity, you will be.