When I ask my clients at our first web briefing meeting what is unique or different about their business, they will often tell me that they provide fantastic customer service, that the quality of their product or service is second to none or that they are the cheapest…
But most consumers expect great customer service, quality and value for money as standard now, so these are no longer areas where it is easy to differentiate.
When you know what makes your company really different from the rest you’ll be able to convey that uniqueness clearly and the benefits of working with you rather than anyone else will quickly become evident to all your prospects.
So this week I’m encouraging you to take some time out to think hard about what makes your business different from your competition – why should anyone do business with you?
Once you know your USPs (Unique Selling Points) inside out, helping your business stand out becomes much easier. Here are three low-cost ways to promote your differences;
1. Develop a signature product, programme or service which is unique to you and your business.
It’s all too easy to want to be all things to all people, but filtering what you offer down to one remarkable and benefits driven service which becomes synonymous with you is a very effective way to stand out from the crowd.
It might be a workshop, a specialised coaching session or a small sample of your most popular product. Give it an eye catching and memorable name. If you make your “thing” a fairly low cost offer then it also provides a less risky way for your prospects to get to know more about you and once they experience what you do at this level, they’ll be more receptive to hearing about your more in-depth programmes or more expensive products.
It’s then vitally important to communicate the direct and tangible benefits of your signature product to your customer. Try to convey a vision of how they will feel after they’ve been served by you.
2. Share your uniqueness with the world
One of the main challenges a small business faces is a lack of budget for marketing and advertising. Social media offers a low-cost way to talk about your business and reach a far wider audience than you would otherwise be able to afford. But social networking can be a fairly slow burn process in terms of seeing a return and it can take up a lot of your time.
In spite of this, a very good reason to start engaging with social platforms and especially blogging is to establish and position yourself as an authority on your area of expertise or as an insightful aggregator of information on it. Having a clear, ‘education driven’ strategy makes it far less intimidating to get started and allows your prospects to get to know you and what you stand for before they contact you. Maintaining a helpful, keyword rich blog, although time consuming offers solid search engine optimisation benefits and can extend your reach further than a static website would manage on its own.
But most importantly, when your prospects read your blog they will get to know your unique perspective in a much more personal way and if they like and appreciate what you have to say, they’ll be far more likely to do business with you rather than the faceless corporate that you’re up against.
3. Follow up
One of the great benefits of doing business with a small company is the personal service you can enjoy. We’ll often throw in complementary extras and favours for our clients which larger companies would not. We can also offer a much more personal service and one of the nicest ways to stand out is to follow-up with your customers after they’ve done business with you.
A handwritten note or friendly gesture of appreciation is the most affordable way to do this, whether it be included in the package containing your product or sent after your project is complete. It can be a tough one to remember to do, but very effective in terms of encouraging referrals and future business. One clothing shop I use wraps the dresses I order in beautiful tissue and they add a pack of “Love heart” sweeties to the top. I rave about businesses that employ little touches like these to friends and family as they’re so uncommon in this day and age.
What little extra can you add as a follow-up for your clients that will really make you stand out from the crowd? Make sure it’s low cost and as personal as possible, if you can combine it with asking them to review your service and provide a testimonial then you’ll make the effort involved even more worthwhile.
Your Marketing Goal for the Week:
1. Write down three unique selling points about your business.
2. Stick that note to your wall and mention them to all potential customers.
3. Consider implementing one of the three ideas above to promote and celebrate your uniqueness.
Goal Complete!
I’d love to hear what your unique selling points are. Let me know by adding them in a comment below with your website address. I’ve started by adding mine!
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