It sounds like a cliché, but finding and promoting your company's differentiation truly is the key to success in public relations--whether we are talking old-school PR or the tidal wave of new social media.

Whether you are considering using traditional media outlets, such as a metropolitan newspaper, a trade magazine or a local TV station, or tapping into social media channels such as LinkedIn, Twitter or FaceBook, understanding how--and why--you are different from your competitors will get you where you want to go.

The business world is filled with companies that sell similar products or offer services that are very much alike. The company that has a truly unique product or service is, indeed, unique.

Nevertheless, there are many ways to assess how you are different, and it is the rare company that cannot come up with at least one intriguing differentiator. This is really a basic tenet of PR, whether we are talking PR circa 1950, 2000 or today. The basics remain the same.

Let's look at a few potential areas of differentiation in your own company.

First, and most obvious, the product or service you sell may be somewhat different, even if it's not novel. Start here and see if you can make the claim that you sell a different product or service than others in your industry. If you can, this certainly should be a major part of how you set yourself apart from everyone else knocking on the doors of your clients and potential clients.

OK, maybe the product isn't unique itself. Maybe it's just like the others lining the retail shelves or filling up the warehouses. But don't stop there. Think about how the product is made. Do you have technology that enables it to be made faster or better? Is your machinery different, perhaps something you've imported from overseas that gives you an edge? What about the raw materials that go into your product--perhaps they are different from what goes into competing products or were sourced differently.

Another consideration is the way the product is delivered. Are your distribution channels unusual? Who sells your product? Do people find it the usual way or is this something that stands out? Sometimes this is a logical way to separate from the pack, not only in creating sales for the product but also in marketing it.

Now let's shift over to the "people factor" in your company. Starting with you, the management style in place at your business might be truly different. I've seen this with a number of companies, where the products or services are fairly vanilla but the way the company operates is definitely an exotic flavor--and that's what we have used to generate media interest for these companies.

And quite often, an unusual management style will spill over into an equally unusual corporate culture. The people who work at your company reflect the management style. We've had instances where the reporter was fascinated with how the company was run and how the employees operated in a group "culture." If one was different, the other was likely different, too.

Still looking at the people factor, sometimes a company has one or more fascinating employees who can help elicit media attention. I've seen situations where an employee was a refugee from a foreign country and had hair-raising stories to tell that not only were interesting to listen to but illustrated how and why this employee came to be such an asset to the company.

Sometimes there is a hobby that stands out. This can be at the top, with the CEO, or among the staff. We worked with a company whose CEO was a skydiver; he came in to turn around a stagnant company and immediately insisted that his executive team skydive with him.

I'm not sure they were all thrilled to do this, but the Forbes reporter was excited by it, and it wound up as a two-page feature with photos in Forbes. The story had nothing to do with the products this company made, but the two-page exposure was an ideal way to get high-profile attention for the firm.

One more suggestion: Look at the relationships you have in the community. If your company does cause-marketing initiatives, these may be your ticket to getting noticed. Corporate philanthropy can be an ideal way not only to support the causes you favor but also to help your company get noticed for being the good citizen it is. And, yes, this is differentiation, especially when your cause marketing is not run of the mill.

So all of this points out that--regardless of which public relations opportunities you are exploring--there is no escaping the need to differentiate. We find that having someone from the outside come in and ask many questions and really look at the company with fresh eyes can work wonders. But you can do the same thing if you are willing to look at your company as if you were a stranger and see what you can find. You may surprise yourself!