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Finding Your Unique Selling Position (USP) May be The Most Critical Activity for Your Success. Your advertising lives in a world of complexity and confusion. Consumers have so many choices in almost every product classification. When you're shopping for a service or product it's common to have even thousands of choices.. If you doubt me, just jump on the Internet and see how many businesses would love to sell you a pair of shoes or a briefcase or a shirt. My guess is that your alternatives could number in the thousands. So that's good right? You're sure to like it if you're the buyer. But us markteters will find it a challenge? What are we to do in order for our companies to survive? Your Advertising Must Set You Apart from Your Competitors. Your advertising must tell your prospect that you're different from the competition. In a meeting with a client the other day, we turned to the yellow pages for their product category and there was a vivid example of how NOT to do advertising. There were pages upon pages of ads. They all had one thing in common. They were so much the same that you could have substituted one company name for another without changing the ad in the slightest. This was obviously a problem for all those companies--but an opportunity for my client! He (or she) who differentiates--wins! When there's no obvious difference, your customers will decide based on who has the best price. When customers are faced with hundreds of choices but dont see any difference between one business and another, what happens? The only thing they can compare is price, so that's how they make their choice. If your differences arent clear, price will be the deciding factor for your customers. That's not the ideal thing for you and your business. And it's not that good for your customer either--especially if the value of your business is best appreciated through a long-term relationship with your customer. Customers who come to you because you have the best price will go to your competitors as soon as they find one with a better price. What if you're the fastest gun in the West? But no matter how fast you are, there will always someone faster. That's not a long-term game. It's better and smarter to differentiate. If you can differentiate yourself, you can charge higher prices. Companies who effectively demonstrate their differences from the competition can justify higher prices. The lowest price does not always get the business. Just think for a minute. You don't always buy the cheapest product or service. Even if you're a world champion cheapskate you can differentiate between bruised and fresh produce. You'll pay a higher price for the fresh vegetables. Correct? Are your customers any different? No. Certainly, you must have a reasonable price, but if you have highlighted an important difference in your product or service, customers will pay extra to have that benefit. So, your key to increased sales, happier customers and increased profits is to simply find the thing which makes you different from your competitors and make certain you're getting that message out in your advertising.
Article Source: Free Articles - http://www.articlesworldonline.com
The author, Craig Mecham, is the founder of of The Mecham Company The Mecham Company, a marketing consulting firm. With 25 years experience in Business to Business Marketing and promotions, Mr. Mecham counsels with national and international business.
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