I was re-reading some of my older material and found this article I wrote in 2006. If I do say so myself, it isn't bad and it has some insights you may find helpful, even if it is about marketing in general and not necessarily about web marketing. I hope you find it worthwhile:

Jack Trout succinctly says, "Price is often the enemy of differentiation." Unfortunately, price is also the easiest thing for lazy marketers and copywriters to brag about.

The trap, of course, is that unless you have the muscle of a WalMart, you will eventually lose every price war. Competitors don't usually play dead, so they will come back and advertise even lower prices, forcing you both into a death spiral of price cutting.

But differentiation, despite the fact that it requires creativity and work, allows you to side-step the price war. Here is a list of triggers I use to come up with ways to differentiate a product or service:

1. Start by focusing on your non-price benefits. Does your product or service save money? Does it makes someone's life or work easier? Does it improve how others regard that person?



2. Single out the most "beneficial benefit." Of all your benefits, which one will make the biggest positive difference in someone's life?



3. Approach your product or service from the viewpoint of your prospective customer or client. Make a very long list that begins with the words, "This widget is for the person who wants ____."



4. Now make a companion list that is about, "This widget is for the person who does not want ____." Don't worry if both your "want" and your "don't want" lists overlap. It is OK if some items on your lists are mirror images of each other. You never know whether the positive "want" or the negative "don't want" version will resonate with your buyers. In fact, some customers will connect with one and others will connect with the other, so don't close any doors.



5. Make another list of every problem your product or service solves. View what you offer as the solution to someone's problem.



6. Everything that has ever been written on the subject of business success can be summed up with the words of J. Paul Getty, "Find a need and fill it." What is your market crying out for? What needs are not being filled by your competitors already?



7. Don't claim to be the "best," the most "experienced," or even that you've been in business since 1776. These things don't differentiate since everyone claims to be the best in some way. Your message will just get lost in all the noise. But you can specifically explain WHY you are the best, if you can give examples and evidence without using the word "best" or any similar words. For example, if you are working on a copywriting assignment for a hotel chain, explain in detail the step-by-step process your staff follows to make sure every room is immaculately clean. Contrast this to the steps your competitors take. Now you are saying your rooms are the cleanest without using those words. Follow the copywriters: Golden Rule: Don't tell them, SHOW them.



8. Ask questions. As anyone who has ever been watching TV and had a small child come up and ask a question can verify, questions have the ability to interrupt our thoughts and pull them in a different direction. Brainstorm as many questions you can pose directly to readers in your ads, website or sales letters that will single out your most exceptional benefits. Here are some examples: "How long are you going to wait until you move into your dream home?" Or, "What can you do right now to help your child get better grades in school?" Haven't you settled for second-class service long enough?"

It takes hard work to differentiate your product or service, but the rewards can be great. When you are unique and different (in a good way) the market pays attention to you.

You can't win the game of competing on price. At least not for long. But you can win if you stand for something no one else stands for. Differentiation is a winning game.

COPYRIGHT(C)2006, Charles Brown. All rights reserved.

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Every marketing book on the planet (practically) waxes on and on about the importance of creating a "Unique Selling Proposition" or USP in order to effectively sell a product or service. Yet understanding what a USP really is, is still one of the most misunderstood concepts in business.

I've seen fuzzy slogans, unsupported claims, and vague sound bites all passed off as USPs. There is a law firm here in the Dallas-Fort Worth area that says they are the firm to go to when "results really matter." ???? Can anyone please tell me what that means? Who hires an expensive law firm when the results don't matter? Ok, I'd better get off my "lawyers can't market" soapbox right now because I have other things to say here.

There's a story about Claude Hopkins, the brilliant 1920s ad man who was asked to help a little-known, bottom-tier beer company named Schlitz boost their sales. This was before Schlitz became known as "The Beer That Made Milwaukee Famous." In fact, it was before Schlitz was even famous within the city of Milwaukee itself.

The first thing he did was request a tour of Schlitz' brewery. While on the tour, Hopkins was surprised to notice that despite being located just a few hundred waters from Lake Michigan, Schlitz used only water from deep artesian wells to make its beer.

He also noticed that Schlitz' brewers repeatedly tested their yeast recipes, going through hundreds of trials in order to come up with the perfect formula. Furthermore, he was shown how they washed their beer bottles several times before filling them with beer.

When the tour was over, Hopkins asked the Schlitz executives why they weren't letting the public know about these painstaking processes. They responded that all breweries did pretty much the same things and that their processes were not really all that unique.

But, noted Hopkins, not one other brewer was talking about them. So he created a campaign to educate the public about the artesian water (even though an abundant and cheaper supply of water was only a few hundred yards away in Lake Michigan), the hundreds of trials in order to create the perfect yeast recipes, and the repeated re-washing of beer bottles prior to their use.

As a result, Schlitz came to "own" these painstaking processes in the minds of the public, even though other breweries did the same things.

A USP only has to be unique in the minds of the public to give your company a vastly superior selling advantage in the marketplace.

Think about your own processes. What are your own quality control standards? How do you produce a quality product? What do you do to deliver a quality service? How do you train your employees? How do you initiate, and then use, feedback and survey results from your customers?

If you are creating a personal brand for yourself, whether it is to advance your career or attract new clients, this same lesson applies. What are your areas of excellence? What do you do that no one else boasts about? These are the things that make up your personal brand and USP.

Personally, I prefer those car commercials that have engineers in white lab coats testing their cars with crash dummies or explaining the engineering processes (even though they are still over my head) over commercials that just shout to me about price and this-week-only sales.

Let's go back to the law firm I mentioned earlier. What if they educated the public about how they only hire law school graduates who were in the top of their classes, how their education continues once they come to work for this firm, how each newly hired lawyer is assigned a mentor, and how all the lawyers at that firm must take hours of continuing legal education.

The truth is, none of these things are unique to major law firms, but like Schlitz beer (oh I bet these lawyers would love to hear me compare their firms with a beer company), none of their competitors are educating the public about these things.

The reason a USP is so vital, is because it is a positioning device to create a unique spot of "real estate" in the mind of the marketplace. When Dominos Pizza began using the USP of guaranteed 30 minute delivery or less, they were not the only pizza chain that had fast delivery.

But they were the first to make fast, guaranteed delivery their claim to fame. And as a result, they came to "own" the idea of fast getting a pizza delivered quickly in the minds of the public.

What is your USP? What idea can you "own" in the minds of your public?

The success or failure of your marketing efforts depends on answering these questions. Don't pass them off with vague sound bites or unfounded, unsupported claims. The public won't buy these things and they will not make you unique in anyone's mind.


COPYRIGHT © 2008, Charles Brown

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