Small Business Ideas Strategies and Resources - Duct Tape Marketing

**A Positioning Strategy Must Answer This Question: Why would I buy from you?**

By John Jantsch

Answering the question above is the greatest marketing challenge facing the small business. Why would I buy from you is what your clients and potential clients constantly ask themselves when considering a purchase. Of course what they are really asking is "what's in it for me"

The best answer to this dilemma is something known in marketing circles as your USP. The term USP has been around for a long time. The letters stand for Unique Selling Proposition.

The idea here is to identify and then communicate a concise
statement of your firm's most compelling offer and benefit
in a way that the potential client can automatically answer
the what's in if for me question. That's all a USP is.

Most everyone is familiar with the original Fedex USP.
On time every time or it's free. At the time this offer was
very unique in the shipping industry and literally built the
company based on communicating this unique selling proposition.
So what's your compelling offer? What can you do and offer that
no one else in your industry can offer?

Most consumers view small businesses like commodities. The
feeling is that one accountant is like another or that one
attorney can get the same result as another.

The problem is that most marketers do nothing to expel that
perception. "Buy from us because we've been in business for
20 years," or "we're dependable," go the slogans of many
small businesses.

Of course the fact that you are dependable, carry a full
line of products, offer fair pricing, or are honest are
expectations...they are not points of differentiation.

An effective USP communicates your firm's unique ability
to fill an obvious void in the marketplace. The USP shows
your target market how your firm is uniquely qualified to
solve their pain or increase their gain. A USP can be your
firm's single most powerful marketing weapon.

To craft a USP for your firm first make a list of all the
benefits of doing business with your firm. Don't leave
anything out.

Then cut the list down with these guidelines.

1. What things on your list are unique versus your direct
competitors.

2. Which of these benefits is most important to your
clients?

3. Which of these would be difficult for other's in your
industry to copy?

4. Which of these can be easily communicated?

From this set of guidelines you should be able to narrow
your search to the top one or two benefits of doing
business with your firm.

From there it is simply a matter of injecting this
chief benefit or USP into everything that you do.

Craft headlines that promote your USP, put a USP
statement on your stationary and business cards, build
your USP into all of your sales presentations.

The ultimate goal is to become known to the market
as whatever your USP promotes.

One final word of warning. You must deliver on the
big promise communicated in your USP. Failure to do
so may actually do more harm then drifting along
without any marketing focus.

~~~~~
John Jantsch is the owner of Jantsch Communications a marketing
consulting firm located in Kansas City, Mo. He is the creator
of Duct Tape Marketing, a fully-customizable turn-key marketing
system. You can reach him at 816-561-3931 or john@ducttapemarketing.com

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positioning strategy