Your UVP and Marketing Magic – Part 4 – Tip #1: Pinpoint Your Unique “-EST”-ness
Welcome back to the blog series, “Change Your Message,” where we are starting with Tip #1: Pinpoint Your Unique “-EST”-ness.
Tip 1: Pinpoint Your Unique “-EST”-ness
Differentiate or die. It may sound overly dramatic but it is, in fact, that dire. You must be able to get across what makes you different. That is actually the absolute heart and soul of all business strategy. In fact, if you cannot define clearly what makes you different, then there’s no more point in reading any further.
If you, indeed, have something that makes you different, it’s not that complicated to define what that is. There are a host of tools and techniques to help you get to the heart of the matter. I prefer to use “mind-mapping” as a group brainstorming technique…but there are plenty of other ways to determine what it is, exactly, that makes your company unique. (For more information on “mind-mapping,” see Tip 12 in Chapter 3 of my book “Sell Local, Think Global”).
Basically, you need to brainstorm and ask yourself, “Who are we, as a company?” It’s a big feat to be able to clearly and concisely answer the question. There are several ways to look at it, though. You can provide several kinds of definitions, including:
- A technical definition, which outlines the specific services or products you’re able to provide;
- A character definition that says something about the personality of your group of people; or
- A market map definition, which identifies where you fall within your group of competitors.
Again, contrary to popular belief, it’s not about the “-ers”: better, faster, cheaper. Rather, it’s the “-est,” something big, that needs to be memorable and specific. Take Wal-Mart: The giant retailer isn’t just cheaper—it’s cheaper on absolutely everything. That makes it the cheap-EST.
Watch for the next post of this blog series, “Change Your Message” that continues with Tip #1: Pinpoint Your Unique “-EST”-ness! Don’t forget to download Olga Mizrahi’s UVP Worksheet, by clicking on this link, other goodies or visit ChunkofChange.com.
