What'a USP?Written by Scott
Got one? Two? Three? If you have competitors, then you should have at least one Unique Selling Proposition (USP). The more REAL ones you have, better - for your Branding, your business recognition, and your sales! We all have competitors, and more you have, more important it is that you have a Unique Selling Proposition (at least one). Allow me to explain. Let's use a recent example of a company that sells laser toner cartridges... Do you think they have competition online? You bet they do, another category that is swamped with resellers. Sound like yours? The task of coming up with a USP can sometimes be tough. But every company needs this, it sets you apart from your competitors. Let me stress this again, it is one or more reasons why prospects should work with you, or buy from you, or do business with you, instead of your competitors, period. Let me narrow this a little further, it used to be if you had best price, - you got business. Although still a minor USP, price alone should not be only consideration, it's not really that unique... Yes, you still need to be competitive, but I don't want to be cheapest guy... we're in this to make a profit, right? So don't make price your 'only' USP. Combine it with more value, something your competition doesn't do, or doesn't offer. O.K., back to our example. This company needed more than price, their product pricing is right inline with everyone else, so now what? First of all, you need to know what your competitors do offer. This is not a new concept. You can't compete if you don't know what you're up against. So take a little time and check out what they have. Do some research, you'd be surprised what you might find - or not. Special offers, free shipping, a contest, great customer support? Take a step back, imagine you are customer and you do buy toner from someone a few times a year. If they do not get great service or it's just average, then chances are you can sway them your way. This references "customer loyalty" another chapter, but it follows first getting customer. So, let's get prospect as a customer first. Now, what do we do to sway these prospects? We offer them what competition doesn't. This can be discovered with your competitive research. Oh, and if you still haven't found a USP or a few - then Hyperformance Media can help you with this as well. Write down every idea that you and your team come up with. Please don't worry about how silly they might seem (at time), just brainstorm with data you have gained. The reason I say to include silly ones, and others is because sometimes those little ideas that you laughed at can actually be morphed to create your USP. No idea is too far fetched at this point, and usually ideas you laughed at are, in fact, some things your competitors don't offer. That's where we go next. On toner company we came up with all kinds, some were already offered by competitors, some were not. The idea is to initially come up with as many as possible. Here are some of what we narrowed field to (we started with about two dozen);Price (of course) Free Shipping (varied by quantity/price) Great Customer Service (so everyone says) A Contest / Promotion (a what?) Free Gifts (vary) Referral Savings (with parameters) Reminders? (to buy) The next step is again to nail down our list, get creative, really think here. This alone still makes us more competitive (once implemented), even if others use same approach. Why? Because before we did this, there was a ton of competition, and as we add these USP's we now narrow list of our 'real' competitors. We are now more competitive within our industry, because we now offer things that (most) of our competitors do not! We are getting more competitive immediately by implementing some simple offerings. Let's take each one in this example and see how we can use it or discard it to our advantage. Price - Still very important in any market, but very tied to customer value (or perceived value). If your product or service is not competing here - it does not necessarily rule you out, more on this later. However, this is usually where a shopper starts (because it's easy), and you want to be considered with this group. In this example, we agreed that (based on our research) we were in market on price. So our price is competitive and that's great, but not unique enough to get business. Free Shipping - In our research, we found that most of company's who were offering this service were just a couple dollars higher in price (covering their "free" offer). So while it may have some perceived value, it was not enough for this company to offer that, so we discarded this one. If however, your costs are such that you can ship for free and still be competitive and profitable, this is a worthwhile USP. Great Customer Service - This is stated everywhere, making it tough for consumer to know what is reality. It is hard to judge until you are a customer. It would be more valuable to offer testimonials of Great Customer Satisfaction. Not Customer Service, but Customer Satisfaction. There is a big difference here. So we DO want to take some of our really satisfied customers and put together, or request their testimonials. This is much more powerful than words or promise of "Great Customer Service". So we will use this, but focusing on satisfaction with testimonials in our advertising pieces and website, etc.
| | A single email is never enoughWritten by JD Burson
A single email is never enough By JD Burson - 02/17/03“Repetition is key to advertising (marketing)”. Those words were said by a friend of mine, Jason Olson, back in his days of selling radio and direct mail ads. Jason, now owner of Ultimate Web Designing (http://www.ultimatewebdesigning.com), said that a particular business owner was willing to buy a single month of advertising to see if it would be cost effective to do a full ad campaign. Jason told him that consumer needs to be “hit” with marketing message repeatedly in order for them to take in message, understand it, and take action. This also applies to email marketing. A very small percentage of people will respond immediately while others need to see your message a number of times before they even think about responding to your offer. It has been said that nearly 70% of market is made up of those people who take their time, shop around, and need to see offers more than a few times before giving them any consideration. Therefore, your goal is to effectively reach, persuade, and motivate this large segment…which is nearly impossible to do with a single mailing. Repeating your marketing message is essential to attract this all important group. Statistics have shown that majority of sales occur in follow-up process. However, you’ll need to do so in a timely, consistent, and convincing manner.
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