Have you identified what makes your business unique?
The marketplace is crowded with lots of companies who have similar products and services. Potential customers have lots of choices, are easily confused by your messaging, and are willing to invest very little time doing work to figure out what you are offering. Most first time visitors to Web sites “abandon” quickly so you typically only have a few seconds to clearly get across what you do.
Think of it in terms of someone shopping in a mall. A shopper is browsing and walking around. They walk past your store window and decide to walk in the front door because something catches their eye. Once in the store they quickly look around to see if they understand what you are selling and if they’re interested in exploring more. If they are confused by what they see and don’t see a strong match with their needs they quickly turn around and leave. The same process happens with visitors to your Web site.
A helpful exercise:
Do some reflection by yourself or with your team and think about who your ideal customer is and why they specifically buy from you rather than the competition. If you haven’t surveyed your customers to find out why they buy from you, now is a good time. Then complete this statement “we are the only company/service that does…” When you come up with your statement, challenge it and say “so what!” Why should your prospect care that you are the “only software company that makes an enterprise class, scalable widget.” Try again until your positioning is clear, valuable, and quickly understood.
I understand that you may offer a range of products and services but lead with those products or services that make you stand out. This will give you much stronger at drawing prospects in to learn more about you.
A current example:
A current example of making it unique and selling the difference is the Southwest Airlines “bags fly free” campaign. As you know, there’s not much difference between the major airlines today but Southwest has found a fun way to be different. They position themselves as the “only” airline that lets your bags fly free, which saves you money and supports the long-term positioning that Southwest offers cheap air fares. Southwest is supporting this unique positioning with some humorous TV campaigns. Here’s a really fun example of their campaign:
Southwest Commercial \”Bags Fly Free\”
Until next time,
Garth
