Hersh Marketing

Positioning Your Small Business and Beating the Competition

  

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Positioning your business is one of the most important steps you can take in beating your competition.  Yet, so many businesses limp along with cliches that make them sound like everyone else. "The best customer service." "The most cutting edge technology."  "The best in the business." Etc. Etc. Etc. Great.  What's unique about any of that?  Even the worst business is going say they have good customer service if you ask them!

Don't depend on cliches! Create the one thing that truly gives you the chance to beat your competition: a USP.

A USP is a Unique Selling Proposition.  It's a critical part of an effective marketing strategy. Without it, you won't stand out from the crowd, let alone beat them.  So how do you create a USP?

  Ask yourself three questions -

1. What makes me new?
2. What makes me better?
3. What makes me different?

That's the easy part. The difficult part is thinking hard and honestly about your business. Try to look at it outside the usual way you view it. This can be tough! Don't just spout the same old lines when someone asks about your business. Identify something about your product or service that is really new, better or different. That's your USP. (And it's probably not customer service - unless you're Zappo's or Amazon.  Sorry.)

Now, if you can't think of anything truly unique, don't worry! A USP isn't always something no one else has. It might be something your competition has in common with you but no one's talking about it. That makes it new, better or different in the eyes of the consumer...and it can make the difference between barely being in business and being a successful business!

By the way, if you take your USP, distill it down to about six words or less, chances are you'll have the other powerhouse tool in the Effective Marketing Strategy arsenal - the PAS (Preemptive Advantage Statement)! What so great about a PAS?  Just the fact that if you said it first, no one else can - without sounding like an also-ran! (Think "The Ultimate Driving Machine".)

What do you think?  What's your USP?  We'd love to hear from you. 

More on the PAS next blog...remember, people go where they know.  Do they know you?