Unique Selling Proposition Part 3
December 9, 2008 by PaulFlood
In this video, I continue to discuss the Unique Selling Proposition and get into the details of how to use the information you’ve gathered in the previous steps and begin writing and refining your million dollar USP!
Understand the business that you are in!
August 14, 2008 by PaulFlood
1. You are in the marketing business. Everything you do
ultimately affects your marketing.
2. Your business or industry is not different.
3. You must build a marketing system using several different
marketing strategies.
Understand the business that you are in. Regardless of the product
or service that you sell, you are in the business of marketing that
product or service. Marketing brings you clients and until you
have clients you don’t have a business. You may have a store, a
profession, a practice, a factory or whatever else your product it
but without clients, you are still in the idea phase.
Management guru Peter Drucker tells us Marketing and Innovation
make money, everything else is a cost. When you understand you are
in the marketing business, you realize everything about your
business is part of your marketing. They are either taking you
closer to more sales and profits or moving you away from them.
One of the biggest business marketing mistakes that prevents
businesses from succeeding in the marketing business is to think
their business is “different” and that they are somehow “special.”
They think their profession or industry is different and that the
marketing rules don’t apply to them. If you happen to have this
mindset, let me ask you these questions: Are your customers
people? Do they have emotions? Do they make emotional decisions.
Do they want to be taken care of and get quality products and
services? Do they want a better life for themselves, their
families and businesses? Do they want to be happy and have
fulfilling lives?
If your clients are people and have the above traits, guess what?
Your business is not “different.” What if your clients are
businesses? Well, the client may be a business but the the buying
decisions are made by people who are making them based on their
emotions and feelings about the products. I have personally been
involved in and made buying decisions from as small as the ad
specialty pens to give to clients to multi-million dollar shipments
manufactured overseas and shipped in on containers. I made those
buying decisions as a person, not as a business.
These business owners also think their industry is different and
they have standards to adhere to. I am not referring to
professional standards, codes of conduct and behavior or ethics.
These, of course are valuable standards that may protect the
public and the integrity of your industry. I’m talking about
marketing standards. These are not official but have become the
norm.
After many years of experience, I am still astounded by the number
of times an owner shows me a web site, ad or brochure of their
competitors and tell me they want their materials to look the same.
I ask if they are different or better than the competition and the
answer is always a resounding, “Of course!” I then ask, “If you
are so much better, why do you want to look the same and have the
same message?”
The lesson is this: Everything you do that potentially impacts
your clients and prospects is part of your marketing. Your
products, your staff, your policies, your building, your restrooms
and the list is nearly endless.
You must have a marketing system built on multiple pillars (or
strategies). The exact strategies vary but the key is to use
several. At the top of the list are strategies to maximize the
value of a client (which we will address in a later chapter) and to
build a long-term relationship with them. Direct mail, media
advertising, sales representatives, email, fax, a web site,
telemarketing, referals, joint ventures and alliances networking
are all examples. The key is to never rely on any specific one
strategy because if it fails for any reason, you have problems.