As a business owner, the first thing you need to think about is how to differentiate yourself from your competitors. Not doing so will really limit your chances of success.
What you need to do is to find your main and unique selling points. A selling point, in simple words, is a quality or feature of brand, product or service which makes customers to want to buy from you and not from your competition. A positive selling point makes you and your product attractive.
“Positive” here means emphasising the feature which makes your brand and products look good. “Negative” is when you go out of your way to point out the deficiencies of your competitors. You’re sort of suggestion “The other guy is worse.” Opting to focus on your positive selling point, on the other hand, is essentially saying “I’m better.”
Finding Your Selling Points
First, think about company. Think about what makes you unique or at least different from your most popular competitors. If your brand is the most popular already, then that is one selling point you need to emphasise.
Then, think about your product or service. What makes it different from what your competitors are offering?
You should also think about the features from the customer’s POV. Why should they buy your product? Is there a practical need that your product is able to satisfy?
It’s also not all about practicalities. Coca-Cola products don’t have any practical use and are generally not the healthiest drink in town, yet Coke is one of the most popular products in the world. Cigarettes are still being sold and people are still buying, despite all the health warnings.
Your positive selling points should then be easier to determine. Just use short words. Your product can be “affordable”, “effective”, “durable”, “reliable”, “advanced”, “beautiful”, etc. The words should be simple and easy to remember.
Finding the Silver Lining
Sometimes you may look at your product and in a moment of brutal honesty think that it has no redeeming qualities. But you’re mistaken—you’re just not using the right perspective.
- If your company has been in the business for a long time, then you can underscore your experience. If your company is brand new, say that it’s a revolutionary company with modern techniques and products.
- If your product is popular, then say so. If so far only a few people are buying, say that it’s an “exclusive” product. ‘We have limited spaces or bookings and can’t taken on every client’. This creates scarcity value.
- If your product is advanced and employs the latest technologies, focus on that. If your product uses an old design, say that it is a “classic” and that it is “time-tested”.
- If your food item is delicious, point that out. But if in reality it’s not, then it’s only for those with “sophisticated tastes.”
Leveraging Your Selling Points
Once you’ve determined your selling points, the next step is to drive home the point to your potential customers. Emphasise these qualities in your advertising. Use them in your slogans. Include them in all your marketing avenues including print, website, vehicle branding, messages on hold recordings and everywhere else you come into contact with prospective and existing clients. Put them on your receipts and invoices. Make your position clearly defined and consistent across everything you do.
The aim is to entrench these qualities in your customers’s thoughts whenever your brand and product are mentioned. In time, this selling point can be your identifying mark, and consumers everywhere will immediately think of these features every time they come across your brand or even that of your competitors.