When looking for your USP (Unique Selling Point) you will
need to ask your self a few questions, one of them being
"Why did I go into business?" Truly, this is a very good
question to ask yourself if you are a small business owner.
There are so many reasons: you have a niche that you
liked, a product that you liked, you wanted freedom of
decision making, freedom of hours of work, to show off to
all your friends!! And there are a myriad of other reasons
too.
But whether you are a single operator or employing 6 or so
staff, then there is one thing that all small business
owners must do and that is successfully MARKET YOUR
BUSINESS.
Back to that question again, "Why did I go into business?"
When you can answer that question you may be able to answer
the next question "What is my Unique Selling Point?"
If you have a unique service or product then it is an easy
question to answer, but in reality it is not very often
that this occurs and if it does it probably wont be long
before there is someone else doing the same thing. So if
you have a service or product that other people nearby are
selling then you have to look for a USP (Unique Selling
Point) that sets you apart from your competitors.
Unless you can answer what your USP is, there is a pretty
good chance that your marketing is being wasted because you
are not differentiating your product or service enough to
want people to come and buy from you.
To find out what your USP is you many need to do intensive
market research on your competitors and find out what
attracts clients to them and not to you. You may need to
chat up a few of your customers to find out why they come
to you, but not necessarily why they don't go to your
competitors. Once you have found out you will need to
differentiate your products or service.
If you honestly just cannot find one then you will need to
set one up and this may be in the form of an extra service,
an add on bonus or whatever you decide. Once you have
created a USP then you can use this to focus your marketing
and bring clients to you.
USP's are what get customers talking. If you are adding a
USP make sure that it is something that is going to strike
a cord in a positive way with not only your existing
customers but also bring in new customers.
You may even decide to run a new USP every couple of months
(as in a different bonus) and use this as your marketing
tool so that your marketing is not seen as repetitive and
boring. Add-ons and bonuses don't always have to cost a
lot and if they are bringing in new customers it is well
worth while.
These points should all be part of your marketing plan. If
you have not got a marketing plan I would suggest you rough
sketch up the next 12 months (taking into account seasonal
changes if they affect you) and detail the next 3 months.
It is not too difficult once you put your mind to it but
like most small business owners finding the time seems
almost impossible. Without doing this though, you may be
spending a lot more money than you realise on ineffective
marketing.
----------------------------------------------------
Kaye has been a small business owner for over 25 years and
understands the problem faced when trying to market a small
business. It is often hard for a small business owner to
sit down and read about marketing so when purchasing our
Marketing Must Do's for Every Small Business you will also
get a free bonus audio CD. For your copy just go to
http://www.ebooksnowonline.com/internet-marketing/marketing/
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