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If You Don't Differentiate, You're Dead! |
By:
J. Craig Mecham |
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If You Don't Differentiate, You're Dead!
by J. Craig Mecham
This article will explain why a Unique Selling Position (USP) is critical to your success. Your marketing exists in a confusing and complex world. Think for a minute about how many choices you have as a consumer in just about any product category. Its not unusual to have dozens, if not hundreds or even thousands of alternatives when you're shopping for a product or service.
If you don't believe me just search the Internet for common products to buy and look at the search results. You could be faced with alternatives in the millions.
That's a good thing right? Sure . . . if you're the consumer. What about all of us marketing professionals who come to work everyday and try to find better ways of selling? How do we survive in such a world?
If Your Advertising Doesn't Make You Different, You've Missed the Mark. The first thing your advertising must do is show your customer how you're different from everyone else. I was consulting with a small business client the other day and we went to the yellow pages for her product category and saw a perfect example of how advertising should not be done..
We found pages and pages of ads--all so much the same that you could literally substitute one company name for another and not have to change the ads at all!
This was obviously a problem for all those companies--but an opportunity for my client! He (or she) who differentiates--wins!
When there's no obvious difference, your customers will decide based on who has the best price. When customers are faced with hundreds of choices but dont see any difference between one business and another, what happens? The only thing they can compare is price, so that's how they make their choice. If your differences arent clear, price will be the deciding factor for your customers. That's not the ideal thing for you and your business. And it's not that good for your customer either--especially if the value of your business is best appreciated through a long-term relationship with your customer. Customers who come to you because you have the best price will go to your competitors as soon as they find one with a better price. What if you're the fastest gun in the West? But no matter how fast you are, there will always someone faster. That's not a long-term game. It's better and smarter to differentiate.
You can command higher prices through differentiation. Companies who effectively differentiate themselves from their competitors can demand higher prices for their products or services. The lowest price is not always the winner. Think about this for a minute. You don't always buy the lowest price. Even if you're the world's biggest cheapskate you can differentiate between bruised and fresh vegetables and you'll pay the higher price for the fresh produce. Right?
Aren't your customers just the same? Yes. Obviously, you must be charging a reasonable price, but if you have established an important difference in your business, customers will pay extra to receive that benefit.
If you want more sales, better customers and higher profits, just find the important attribute which makes you different from you competitors. Then make certain you're telling your potential customers about it.
The author, Craig Mecham, is the owner of The Mecham Company The Mecham Company, a marketing consulting firm. With two decades success in Business to Business Marketing and communications, Mr. Mecham counsels with under performing businesses. Don't reprint this exact article. Instead, reprint a free unique content version of this same article.
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Article Source: http://www.statssheet.com/articles/article54039.html |
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