Marketing: Create a 10 Second Introduction From Your USP

Create a 10 Second Introduction From Your USP

Written by Frauke Nonnenmacher

In my last article I mentioned that a good USP is a must-have for any serious business, and pointed you to some resources on finding repparttar

right USP for your business. But a USP does more than just keep your bank manager happy when you apply for a business loan – it’s also useful for all of your marketing efforts.

You can generate a ton of business by networking, whether you belong to a networking organization or just get referrals from existing (satisfied) customers. Whenever you meet a new potential client, it’s important to create repparttar 142013 right impression about you and your business straight away. That’s where a 10 second introduction comes in handy – and repparttar 142014 more this introduction stands out from repparttar 142015 rest, repparttar 142016 more likely your new acquaintance is to remember you.

One great way of making your introduction stand out and to really grab repparttar 142017 attention of repparttar 142018 person you’re introducing yourself to is to put an unexpected twist right at repparttar 142019 start. One lady I know starts her introduction: “Hello, I’m Jane Doe, and I want to root through your trash cans.” Now that’s an introduction that nails everybody’s attention – and leaves them wanting more. The lady in question is an environmental consultant and helps companies reduce repparttar 142020 amount of waste they produce – hence rooting through repparttar 142021 trash.

Spending some time thinking about how you can present your business in a truly unusual light will turn out to be a great investment in repparttar 142022 long run. Write down all repparttar 142023 things you typically do in your business and see how you can twist them around to make people ask “You can’t really do that for a living?”

But that is only repparttar 142024 beginning, of course. Now that you have grabbed their attention you have to follow up with something useful. Nobody would ever hire somebody to go through their trash, no matter how interesting that sounds as a job description. So now’s repparttar 142025 time to follow up with your USP, some strong benefits and your guarantee if you have one. Let’s say you’re a printer. Your USP is that you always deliver on time. Your introduction could read:

Online Networking for Better Business

Written by Frauke Nonnenmacher

Last month I mentioned that trust is a vital part in getting business. One of repparttar

best ways of building trust is by doing some regular networking. There are many ways of networking, from big networking clubs like BRE or BNI to small, informal groups. But today I want to talk about an alternative to these – online networking.

The advantages of online networking are that you can reach a vastly larger group than you possibly can during face-to-face meetings. You’re not tied to fixed meeting times or have to worry about mandatory attendance. And businesses on a budget will be happy to hear that online networking is generally much more affordable than joining a networking club.

On repparttar 142012 downside you’re not networking in a group that excludes your competitors – in fact you may face quite stiff competition, depending on what line of business you’re in. No fixed meetings also means that it’s easy to let things slip, so it’s up to you to make sure that things keep rolling along smoothly.

Having said that I don’t think there’s any reason not to give online networking a try. Unless you’re swamped with work, of course, or you don’t own a computer with Internet access. (In which case, how did you get hold of this article in repparttar 142013 first place?)

Online Networking for Success

Here are a few hint and tips to maximize your success with online networking. The same can be used for face-to-face networking, of course.

1) Don’t go around asking for business. Trust me, you don’t want to come across as an annoying salesperson. Instead see if there’s anything you can do to help others. A good online networking club will have forums where you can give help and advice to others – take advantage of this. It’s a great trust builder, and it provides you with professional visibility. Useful advice does stick in peoples’ minds – and so will your name.

2) Do use your signature to your advantage. Create a short signature to use at repparttar 142014 end of all your correspondence in repparttar 142015 club. It can be repparttar 142016 same as your email signature, or something tailored specifically to repparttar 142017 networking club. My only recommendation would be to stick to a plain text signature, rather than HTML. Make sure your signature contains repparttar 142018 URL of your web site, and a good tag line (mine’s “The right words to improve your business”, for example.) Including repparttar 142019 URL will improve your search engine rankings, as most networking clubs are picked up by search engines, and including your tag line will make people remember you.

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