The first part of our journey will help you understand your overall
marketing message. If your business is indeed sending a message
at all, it is likely unclear. We find that most businesses initially
created their marketing message by copying what their
competitors have written. For the most part, companies ignore this
key aspect of their business perhaps changing things only slightly
over the years. For example, if we were to stumble across an
advertisement about your business, what would it say? Here's one
way to discover your marketing message. If we were considering
engaging your business and you had only 15 seconds to convince
us, what would you say? Stop and think about it. You have only 15
seconds to tell us why we should pick you. The majority of our
readers and their staff would probably say something like this:
"You should work with us because— well, we're better! Actually,
we're the best. Look how nice we are too. We're friendly and we
smile a lot. We have great service. Also, we're a family owned
business. We've got 'great' prices. In fact, my guess is nobody beats
our prices. We're also honest. That's right, honesty and integrity is
our policy. We're reliable and dependable. Yes, we have a
professional service guarantee. We're willing to help you, we're fast
and we're local. We do it right the first time too. We care and really
love our customers. We also have other options to choose from in
our great selection. Did I mention that we were established in
1901?"
We could go on, but you get the picture. Though we've exaggerated
a bit to include different industries, chances are good your
business couldn't give us some solid "whys" within 15 seconds. If
you have any printed ads, read them and determine what they say.
Take a look at the homepage of your website too. It's probable that
your content is flooded with fluffy words that are so commonplace
that we've come to totally ignore them. They go in one ear and out
the other without a second thought. We find that most businesses
are saying all the things that customers have already come to
expect. Your customers and prospects expect you to be good,
friendly and honest. After all, that's why they're paying you. If you
don't deliver, they'll find someone else who will. If you really screw
them over, they'll sue you. Still, over 95% of all businesses continue
to use meandering and boring platitudes almost as placeholders
for their advertisements.
Increasing Your Market Share
As marketing consultants, one of the most often asked questions
we receive is "how can I increase conversions?". In other words,
businesses are looking for a way to take market share away from
their competitors. Step 1 in Four Step Marketing deals with just
that, increasing conversions. Our goal is to clearly identify all the
ways you're better than your competitors. We'll identify these as
your Unique Selling Points , or the unique angles to your business
and industry. This list of Unique Selling Points will then become your
overall marketing message and built into every aspect of your Four
Step Marketing campaign. Simply put, your Unique Selling Points
should "wow" your customers so that they see your company as
the clear choice to do business with! To say it another way, when
you build strong Unique Selling Points explaining why you're better,
heads should turn and people should take notice. Conversions will
increase because more people want to do business with you
instead of your competitors.
Why Being the Cheapest Isn't Always a Good Thing
If you’re a business owner, be prepared to get a little
uncomfortable. If you "wow" customers with why you're better,
they'll be willing to spend more money to buy from you. It comes
down to the value you provide them. Unfortunately, most
businesses are only willing to compete on price alone. They are the
cheapest and can't understand why sales aren't pouring in. They
rotate promotions, discounts and coupons with little changes in
revenues all while taking a hit on their profit margin. Often times,
being the cheapest means you've cut so much profit out that you're
unable to add any more value to your customers in other areas.
The end result is that someone will eventually undercut you,
making things even more difficult.
The biggest problem with the "cheapest" mindset is that money
isn't the only thing that is important to most of us. Most people buy
based upon overall value. If we all value different things, being the
cheapest doesn't necessarily guarantee an increase in your
business. For example, because we value our time, many have
decided to skip the trip to the store and order online. Because we
value our relationships and social experiences, we don't always eat
at the cheapest restaurants. We value service, our children, good
health and dozens of other things used to filter every single buying
decision. Some might disagree with us and believe that price
determines everything. While the price does influence a decision,
the truth is, people will only pick the lowest price if everything else
is exactly the same. Do you utilize the cheapest form of
transportation in the world? That would be walking, right? Probably
not, if you value your time. When you purchased an automobile,
did you only purchase standard features? Or did you add the power
seat with lumbar support and a back-up camera? Do you always
stay at the cheapest hotels? Do you live in the cheapest house in
your city? From the houses we live in, to the places we shop and
visit, we do the things we do filtered through the lens of what we
value.
Showing Off Your Company's Value
We can ignore the truth about why people buy or use it to our
advantage. By clarifying all of our Unique Selling Points , we're able to
quickly explain differences in our company versus our competitors.
While it sounds simple enough, the sad truth is that most
businesses don’t have strong Unique Selling Points . The majority of
businesses have also never sat down long enough to even think
about their message. They say the same old thing over and over
again. "We're nice, we're good, we're friendly. We love our
customers. We've been in business since 2001." On top of that,
they'll throw in a catchy slogan or perhaps a jingle. Can we offer a
quick reality check? People don't care about you or your business. If
you're saying what everybody else is saying, that's just noise. They
want to know what's in it for them. What benefit will they receive
from working with your company compared to the guy down the
road? If they are currently your customers, should they stay with
you or leave? They want to know the "WHY". Are you faster? Do you
have a better warranty? Are returns easy? Is the service better?
How about better technology? Do you have a guarantee? Are there
any special bonuses when we buy from you? What makes you
different? In other words, what makes your business unique?
The Death of Customer Loyalty
What about customer loyalty? Sorry friend, but it's gone. It died the
moment we all started carrying around computers in our pockets.
Prospects and customers are now educated and they've got loads
of options to choose from. They've read your reviews and are
deciding if they'll buy, keep buying or leave. If for any reason
they're not quite sure, they'll ask their online friends for
suggestions and receive an outpouring of responses. Be
forewarned that if you're not continually improving and giving
customers what they want, they will eventually become someone
else's customers. After all, haven't you done the same thing? What
store did you used to frequent until that day they really ticked you
off? What did you do? You stopped shopping there. If we're honest
with ourselves, all of us have stopped buying one brand and
switched to another brand at some point. Did we call the company
and tell them we were leaving? Probably not, we just left. Knowing
this is our nature, what leads us to believe our prospects and
customers won't do the same thing to us?
Warning - Ignoring This Step Causes a Miserable Slow Death
Yes, building strong Unique Selling Points takes work, planning and
determination. Innovation can be expensive. But what's the
alternative? If you don't deliver value, you're digging your
company's grave. Prepare to get buried alive by your competitors
who are willing to innovate and change. You see, right now, your
competitors are burning the midnight oil. They're working harder,
longer and are investing in their future. They are well capitalized
and are studying you. They're planning their attack on your
industry. They'll slowly gain market share until they suffocate you.
Now is the time to prepare. Now is the time to improve your
offering. If you're really honest with yourself, you're probably like
most businesses and have never even thought about your Unique
Selling Points . Have you ever sat down and studied your
competitors? Can you email us a detailed list of why you're the
clear choice when it comes to your industry?
Consider this. Blockbuster Video, the world's largest movie rental
company, employed over 60,000 people and had over 9,000 stores
at their peak in 2004. They had the opportunity to buy Netflix for a
measly million dollars and declined. Netflix gave consumers what
they wanted and shipped movie rentals to their door without LATE
FEES. Redbox entered the scene allowing us to pick out our movie
rentals outside of retail outlets and convenience stores. Netflix,
Amazon, Apple, Google, and several other players added live
stream movies by subscription. While Blockbuster Video did
eventually join the bandwagon, it was too late for them. They filed
bankruptcy and closed because they didn't give their customers
what they wanted. It's a sad story, but all hope isn't lost for your
business.
Dialing in Your Unique Selling Points
So how do you give customers what they want and dial in to your
Unique Selling Points ? It starts out with research. Though you
probably can't give your customers and prospects everything they
want today, understanding what they want is paramount to
keeping them and attracting more. Here are a few things you can
do immediately to better understand your customers and
prospects:
a. Profile Your Ideal Prospects/Customers
b. Survey Prospects/Customers
c. Research Competitors and Their Offerings
d. Industry Research
Though it sounds simple enough, even big companies aren't
gathering this insight. You’re probably not profiling your ideal
prospects and customers either. We’d also guess that you’ve not
surveyed prospects or your valuable customers. You may know
what’s going on in the industry, but who are the top players? Why
are they winning? What's new with technology? What are they
doing differently? Most people think that coming up with Unique
Selling Points is difficult. It isn't. It's all about listening. You simply
need to ask your customers and prospects what you could do
better. Then take a hard look at your competitors versus your
business and ask yourself what you should do to improve.
Integrating Your Unique Selling Points into
Your Marketing
Defining your Unique Selling Points is a critical prerequisite to the
other steps you'll read about. Once you have your Unique Selling
Points in place, the Four Step Marketing process will help keep your
business in front of your customers and prospects. Your Unique
Selling Points will become central to your business. They will be
your core marketing message. Utilize your Unique Selling Points to
continually educate customers and prospects why they'd be crazy
to go anywhere else. Integrating them will create a tipping point.
Unique Selling Points are why customers choose your brand over the
competition time and time again, because of the value you provide.
Even if you ignore the other marketing steps listed in this book and
only completed this step, you'd still see growth due to an increase
in conversions.
There's more good news! Sometimes coming up with strong Unique
Selling Points takes work and innovation. Sometimes it doesn't. Each
year we meet companies who have great systems and services in
place for their customers and prospects. They already have
amazing Unique Selling Points and are the clear choice when it
comes to value. The problem is that they haven't done a good job
at sharing them openly. As crazy as it sounds, these remarkable
businesses have kept their marketing message a secret and have
left money on the table. For businesses like this, the solution is
fairly simple; integrate their Unique Selling Points into every area of
their sales and marketing channels.
Companies with amazing Unique Selling Points have gone through
the painful process of innovating. They are leaders and
entrepreneurs who constantly think about how they can increase
the value of their products and services. They have worked
tirelessly to improve their inside reality. Rather than tell prospects
about how nice they are or how long they’ve been in business, they
tell the customers why they should select their business for the
products and services they desire! Companies who practice step 1
have telepathy when it comes to their customers and prospects.
They already know who they are and what they want because they
have surveyed them. Successful businesses ask themselves what
they could do better every day. They package this information up
beautifully and insert it into the other steps you'll learn about in
this book.
As you can see, developing your Unique Selling Points isn't a one
time process. Like anything worthwhile, it is a journey of continual
improvements, changes, and adaptations. Your Unique Selling Points
will evolve over time. After going through the research stage, you
should have a clear understanding of your prospects' and
customers’ wants and needs. You can then decide what
improvements to make, starting with the easiest to deliver but
most valuable option.
As you continue to improve, you'll share your newly improved
Unique Selling Points in your marketing. This will enhance your
customer loyalty, conversions and revenues. In summary, your
mom explained Unique Selling Points perfectly. Remember what she
used to tell you when you were little - “If you don’t have anything good
to say, then please don’t say anything at all!” It's good advice.
When an organization develops their Unique Selling Points , they'll
have plenty of good things to say.
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