If you really want your business to be as successful as it can be — to thrive and not just survive… If you really want to make the most of the investment you’ve made in it, then you have to continually find ways to offer your customers unique advantages they can’t get elsewhere.
When you do, you’ll soon gain their loyalty, motivate them to do more business with you, keep them as customers for a longer time. Not only that, you will inspire them to tell their friends and family about you. And, in turn, your response rates will be healthier.
In other words, if you can give your customers unique, compelling and profitable reasons to say “YES!” to your products and services over and over again, then they’ll not only keep you in business, they’ll help make you incredibly successful in the process.
Take a moment to think about the things that you or your company does that your competition doesn’t do. Write them down. One of those could be your ‘hook’ — or your USP (Unique Selling Proposition). If you haven’t already done so, I highly recommend studying what your competitors offer. A competitive analysis is NEVER a waste of time, and can help you drive forward an effective, unique USP and therefore marketing message.
Even if you can’t think of anything you do differently (I doubt that you are NOT unique in some way — perhaps you are the only chiropractor in your vicinity to offer a ‘same-day’ emergency service), then consider telling your story in a unique and interesting way.
As an example, and going back of the chiropractor narrative, let’s say, before you’d even heard of chiropractic treatment, you couldn’t find relief for your back pain, no matter where you went. Until you came across a chiropractor. Go on to explain what happened, and after your story, provide a list of benefit-driven bullet points as to why or HOW you can benefit others suffering with back pain.
Granted, coming up with something that is absolutely unique in a crowded marketplace can be a bit of a challenge.
American marketing author, consultant, and professor Richard Dunsfold says that the difficulty companies have in creating functional uniqueness has made them “focus on having a unique emotional selling proposition (an ESP) instead of a USP”. He gives the example of the Ferrari car and the Rolex watch. Neither has a distinctive functional uniqueness, but each has a unique emotional association in the consumer’s mind. To read more on the influence of emotions on buyers behaviour, click here.
Whatever you do, and whether you opt for a USP or an ESP, don’t fall prey to the ‘me too!’ trap. As marketing ‘guru’ Tony Bonking says, most businesses are “rudderless, nondescript, [and] unappealing” that “feed solely upon the sheer momentum of the marketplace. There’s nothing unique; there’s nothing distinct. They promise no great value, benefit, or service — just ‘buy from us’ for no justifiable, rational reason.”
To sum up, your USP (or unique ‘story’) should be the FOCUS of all of your marketing efforts. Use it to educate people … to stand out … to have clients and prospective customers seek YOU out, rather than the other way around — or worse, watch them trot merrily off towards your competition.