Hey all,
Guess what.
At the end of this month, I'm going to become famous.
There. I said it.
Oh, I can hear you doubting from here.
Not famous like my brother Toby Hargrave who just had his own hour long comedy special on CTV (www.seetobylive.com).
No no no.
I'll be famous in far more minor way (but one that could be meaningful, rewarding and instructive to you). Sort of a D grade celebrity if you will.
I'll explain later.
This week we are going to keep focusing on your unique selling proposition (USP).
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Seth Godin, marketing genius, writes in his book, “Purple Cow”:
“When my family and I were driving through France a few years ago, we were enchanted by the hundreds of storybook cows grazing on picturesque pastures right next to the highway. For dozens of kilometres we all gazed out the window, marvelling at how beautiful everything was.
Them within twenty minutes, we started ignoring the cows. The new cows were just like the old cows, and what was once amazing was now common. Worse than common. It was boring.
Cows, after you’ve seen them for a while, are boring. They may be perfect cows, attractive cows, sows with great personalities, cows lit by beautiful light, but they’re still boring.
A Purple Cow, though. Now that would be interested. (For a while.)
The essence of the Purple Cow is that it must be remarkable.”
The goal here is to create a remarkable business.
To be a remarkable business means that people are willing to make remarks about you. You are worthy of mention.
But not just remarkable. Being a Purple Cow might be neat and get people’s attention but is that enough? Do your customers want you to simply be different?
No.
They want their problems solved. They want relief from pain. They want results. So you must become remarkable at meeting their needs; remarkable at solving their problems. Remarkable at taking them from where they are to where they want to go.
To think you can separate marketing from the quality of what you offer is foolish.
To think that your business has no opportunities to innovate and add more value is probably mildly delusional and entirely self destructive.
The goal here is to make your business irresistibly attractive to your prospects, clients and yourself.
To do that may require a bit of stepping back and rethinking the way we do things. And, I would suggest, that it takes doing that through the customers eyes, not our own.
Most of us are far too close to our own businesses to make any sort of informed opinion about things. And we may be too attached. Sometimes we’re incredibly proud about things that no one else cares about.
For example, for years, Disney Hotels washed it’s bed sheets every single night for every single room. Then someone asked the all important question: “Do they even care?” And so they did an experiment. They put a sign on people’s beds saying, “In an effort to conserve water, we wash our bed sheets every three days. If you’d like them washed everyday, we’d be happy to do so, just call us at this number.” Out of 60,000 room stays only a handful of people took them up on it.
Can you tell me, in 30 seconds or less, what it is that makes your product or service so unique or valuable that I should put it at the top of my list? (And if you just said “quality”, “Service” or “dependability” you are in deep trouble because everyone else says that too. . .)
Why should I put you at the top of my list? Why should I buy from you vs. the competitors? Remember: #2 didn’t get chosen. As Jack Trout puts it so subtly in the title of his book . . .
“Differentiate or die.”
Of course, sometimes when people ask that question it can be very disconcerting. I remember one client who owned a carpet cleaning company. She called me after finishing a diagnostic that I gave her. She said, “I’m so depressed – I have no USP!”.
Owch.
But it’s good to know – sometimes you need to CREATE a U.S.P. by looking for gaps in the market place. Look at your industry - what is no one offering that is needed? We call this an innovation gap.
This may all seem a bit abstract and conceptual right now.
But don't worry - as we move ahead we are going to get into the nitty gritty of exactly how you can identify and powerful communicate your irresistible offer to the marketplace. It's simple enough, but it's a bit of work.
In fact, NEXT WEEK - you are going to learn about . . .
***the three critical key elements to creating your irresistible offer.***
And remember:
I WILL soon become minorly famous in the most obscure of ways.
I hope all is well with you.
Warmest,
Tad Hargrave
Founder
Radical Business
"helping conscious folk make more money"
tad@tadhargrave.com
www.tadhargrave.com
P.S. Please consider the environment before printing this email - Thank You!
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a blog for green business marketing, and community-minded entrepreneurs, conscious business marketing, eco-business marketing, ethical business marketing, sustainable business marketing, green business consulting
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
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