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Biz Challenge: Dare To Be Different

by on December 8, 2011 in Business Building

Did you like last week’s biz challenge? Did you notice any immediate results from it? If so, email me or leave me a comment & let me know what they were. I’d love to hear about your success!

I talk about standing out in the crowd & how knowing what makes you different from your competitors will be a vital part of growing your business & today’s challenge is going to add to this point.

So for today’s Biz Challenge, I want you to do a Google search of a keyword phrase that you’d use to describe your business. Then I want you to pick one of the top 6 results to take a look at. Go through their website or shop & take note of 1 thing you like that they’re doing that you aren’t. Write it down & brainstorm some ways you can do it better in your own business. 

Now keep in mind, you’re not going to do the exact same thing. Copying is not creative…it’s crappy! Think about how you can take what they’re doing & make it fit into your business. What can you do to put your spin on it? Be sure it fits with your branding & is something that is beneficial to your customers.

Here’s my Example…

I searched Google for “eco-friendly baby products” & the 4th result on page 1 was for a website that sold eco-friendly baby products from many different manufacturers. After I was there for maybe 10-15 seconds a pop-up appeared asking me to join their mailing list so I could receive their “deal of the day” offer.

What this was was a daily email that gave me a discount on one of the products they sold on their site…a different one each day.

What I like…

So I’m a mom, I like these types of products & I would be tempted to opt-in for a goodie like that because I’m getting something new everyday from them… a discount on a product that I might be interested in buying. I’m always up for a good deal.

What I don’t like…

I don’t like that I’d be getting an email every day. It would be too much & probably overwhelm me.

How I’m going to make this work for me… 

I have a newsletter that goes out to my subscribers once a week. I can take this idea…this “deal of the day” & turn it into a “deal of the week” by offering my subscribers a discount on a different product every week. I could also change it up to where they would get a certain free product if they spent $40 or more on a purchase if I’d rather go that route. And I don’t want this popping up on my blog since I’m not really into that sort of annoying thing, but I could include it in my newsletter opt-in graphic instead.

Conclusion

So do you see how I took something that I liked that I wasn’t already doing & I tweaked it to fit my business & to be a bit different? That’s what I want you to do today.

Let me know what you decided to do in the comment section below!

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7 Steps To Finding Your Unique Selling Proposition

by on November 4, 2011 in Marketing

image by Lucky Thirteen Design on Etsy

Last Friday I told you what a Unique Selling Proposition or USP was & why you needed it.

Then on Monday I showed you the results I got on one of my products after figuring out it’s USP & using it in my marketing.

Now I’m going to take you through the 7 steps you need to take in order to find your product’s USP.

I’ve also included some questions that you’ll need to answer after each step in order to really figure this out for your products. Trust me…it’s worth the time it will take you. This will help you market your product unlike anything else.

Keep this in mind…

your USP needs to be so convincing that you should be able to use it as a headline that will sell your product for you.

So let’s get to it.

1. Benefits

How does your product help your customer? Why would they buy it?

Write down 3 benefits that your product offers to your customer.

2. Know Your Competition

What are similar businesses doing to set themselves apart? What are they not doing & how can you take that & make it your own?

Go find 3 businesses that are similar to your own. Make a list of things that they’re leaving out of their marketing. Next to each thing they’re missing, write how you can use it in your business or product marketing.

3. Problem Solving

Go back & look at the 3 benefits your product offered your customer. What problems does it solve for them? Write them down.

If you’d like a bit more info on this area, read my post What Solution Are You Selling?

4. Prove It

Talk is cheap. Anyone can claim anything so back up how great your product is by providing your customer with proof that it is what you say it is. Show them the product in action {or a video} & used past customer testimonials in your descriptions or marketing efforts.

5. Simplify

Take the above steps & melt them into one statement that sums up your product’s USP. This is like your business’s tagline. It’s what you’re all about, right?

Combine your benefits, your uniqueness, your problem solving, & your proof into a headline that is sure to grab potential customers attention & make them stop to take a look at what you have to offer.

6. Spread The Word

Next you need to plaster your product’s USP everywhere. Put it in your product descriptions, at the top of your blog posts, tweet about it, put it on your product packaging, & more. Let everyone know that your product is unlike anyone else’s & that they need it!

7. Guarantee It

Be bold & set your product apart, but be sure that it does what you say it does. Can you deliver on your promise? Is your guarantee for sure?

Again, the goal with developing a Unique Selling Proposition is to capture your customer’s attention & make them respond to you & your offer.

Have you been flaunting your products USP in your marketing? Give me one example of how you are gonna start using this tactic below in the comments.

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How I Increased Sales Using My Unique Selling Proposition

by on October 31, 2011 in Marketing

personal image

In last Friday’s post I talked about why you needed to know your products Unique Selling Proposition & that your USP would be a key point that you’d use in your product marketing.

Today, I’m going to tell you about the results I’ve gotten from doing this with one of my own products & how I did it.

One of the products that I make in my all-natural baby skin care line – Baby Swank Naturals – is Herbal Baby Oil. Now honestly, this didn’t take off as quickly as my Baby Wash & Shampoo did, so I knew I needed to go back & evaluate my product in order to see where I needed to make some adjustments.

I knew I needed to figure out what my USP was & where I could use it in my marketing to reach my customer so they would go for my baby oil over the competition. Once I did that, I had some good results!

My results

Once I figured out this products USP, I started using my findings in my product descriptions, in blog posts about my baby oil, in my social media updates, anytime my oil was featured somewhere, etc. Since then I’ve had more people buying this product & leaving me positive feedback about it.

Do you know what most of the feedback is about? It’s about how great this product has been for them & their baby, the reason they bought it, & about how it’s helped them.

Score! That’s exactly what I was going for. More sales on this product, customers buying it because they needed it, & positive feedback from it.

Now let me tell you how I got these results.

What I did

The first thing I did was I sat down with a pen & piece of paper & I wrote down the benefits my Baby Oil offers. I’m talking about specific, direct benefits that someone would get from purchasing it. Here’s what I came up with.

  • soft, nourished, healthy skin
  • a sense of security & trust
  • makes a great gift for mamas & babies

Next I took a look at some competitors of mine that also sold a natural baby oil product. I wanted to see what they were doing that I wasn’t & what they weren’t doing that I should be.

Much to my surprise, there wasn’t anything they were doing that I wasn’t. We all were saying we had pure, natural ingredients. We all said it moisturizes baby’s skin. We all said our products made great gifts.

Nevertheless, that didn’t make me feel great. I don’t want my products to be like my competitions. I want my products to stand out…to go above & beyond. So then I focused on what they were leaving out. Below are some of the things I noticed that they weren’t doing.

  • weren’t taking advantage of SEO keyword usage
  • not listing ingredients
  • no customer testimonials
  • not linking to complementary products
  • not telling who their product would be a good fit for

Now I knew what I could do to stand out a bit from them. I could make sure my SEO keywords were still strong & that I was using them throughout my descriptions. I could list my ingredients so that I was being upfront & honest with my customers – setting their minds at easy about the pureness of my product. I could include past customer testimonials & link to complementary products in my descriptions. Lastly I’d not only say that my product would make a great gift, but tell who it would make a great gift for.

The third thing I did was to set down with my ideal customer profile for this product {good ole’ Amanda!} & find out what problems my product was solving for her & her baby. Below are the problems I came up with.

  • no more dry skin
  • no more rashes due to synthetic & chemical ingredients from lotions
  • confidence & peace of mind
  • perfect, thoughtful gift

Now, not only did I know what I needed to do to make my product stand out from my competition, I knew what I needed to address in order to make my product stand out to Amanda…my ideal customer!

Then I took all of the above information & narrowed it down so that I had one statement I could use for this product in all of my marketing. I still wanted to use the other info separately, but I wanted a tagline of sorts to start my marketing off with a bang.

The last thing I did was to then go & update my product descriptions in my shop, to write & schedule a blog post about my baby oil, & to search for some places I could get it featured so I could try out my new findings.

So I hoped you’ve seen how I used my USP to increase my sales, get more positive feedback on one of my products & also where I used this information in my marketing. Be sure to come back on Friday because I’m going to show you how you can find & use your USP to market your products & stand out from the competition & to your customer!

What is one thing you hope to gain by using your USP in your product marketing?
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Are You Missing Out On This Top-Notch Marketing Tactic

by on October 28, 2011 in Marketing

image by Shelleyroze on Etsy

There’s this saying, “Differentiate or Die” & in the world of creative business, any business for that matter, it’s super important to set yourself apart.

To stand out in the crowd.

To be noticed.

To be remembered.

To be unique.

Knowing that is one thing, but doing it is something else.

One way to go about setting your business or products apart is to determine what your unique selling proposition or USP is.

What Is A Unique Selling Proposition?

A unique selling proposition is just what it sounds like. It’s something that only you have {unique}, it’s worth the money {selling}, & you’re suggesting it to the world {proposition}.

Why Is It Important?

The point of knowing & sharing your USP  is so that your customer knows why they should buy from you over the competition & it helps focus your marketing & branding as well.

You’ll use your USP in all of your marketing efforts from product pitches to magazines or websites to business ads, taglines, product descriptions, & more.

You want people to not only recognize your name when they hear it or see it, but you want them to immediately connect you with your USP.

Are you missing out?

Are you letting customers know how you & your products are different from all the other similar ones out there? If you aren’t, you’re missing out on a very successful tactic that will convert browsers in to buyers.

Next Monday I’m going to show you how I applied this to one of my own products & what it did for me.

Be sure not to miss this next post! Add me to your Google Reader or Feedburner so you never miss a thing!

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