Marketing to Professionals, Solo Entrepreneurs: How to do this Yourself, Part 3

May 12, 2010 by umutkshr · 2 Comments
Filed under: Marketing Tips, Uncategorized

Image by HubSpot via Flickr

In part 2 of this series, we introduced the concept of the target group, the answer to the question: “who” will be my buyers, where do they live, how do I reach them, are there enough of them to make it worthwhile, do they have the money to buy and are they willing to buy what I want to sell?

Defining the target group is of great importance. You have to set your sights on a much focused, defined target of opportunity. You might call this market opportunity a special “niche”. This market niche is your best opportunity. It’s a small, but potentially lucrative sliver, usually of a much larger market segment, occupied by a very select group of people who have the money and the inclination to buy what you can offer. You’re no longer marketing to a large or what we call mass market, competing with every Tom, Dick and Sally. You are not trying to be all things to all people. You only want to be all things to this select group of people. Niches are easier to defend, and the big boys don’t often pay much attention, because they are considered too small to warrant the effort and potential payback required by the large corporations. If you play it right, the game is yours.

Once you have identified your target audience, and the niche in which they reside, work or play, then you must figure out the best way to reach, inform and motivate them to take a good look at you and what you offer. The way to do this is with the Unique Selling Proposition (for a more detailed explanation of the U.S.P. and its pivotal role in marketing, see my previous article “Flying Blind without the 2 Secrets of the U.S.P.”) Simply put, the USP is the way you differentiate yourself from your competitors…preemptively. By preemptively, I mean by doing it incisively; by being first into the market, by making it very difficult to be copied by competitors, unless they want to risk being mocked as a me-too or copy-cats.

If you wish to be positioned in the mind of your prospects as a straight-shooter, right-down-the-line, conservative type, then there are obvious things you can do to attract attention to yourself; but at the same time, do things that demonstrate that you are the one for the job. If, as another example, you want to be positioned possibly as a bit of a maverick, or outlaw, not prone to be the same as others, and often taking a path others fear to tread, then there are ways you can dress, act, speak, write, deliver speeches and others, that will give people the idea that you are not like the rest of the consultants, professionals, practitioners or service providers.

The preemptive part is the hardest to pull off. But you must. This is the essence of what most often sets you apart, positively. It is the part that will stick in the mind of the beholding prospective client. Even two decades later, I still get asked: “aren’t you the guy who used to give speeches, doing that “shirt” thing?” They may have forgotten my name, but not my distinctive bit that set me apart from the other speakers and consultants. This helped me be preemptive in the “giving speeches game”. Keep in mind that giving speeches and being thought of as a consummate expert in your field, is the best way to be invited to pitch your services to a prospective client. Once you get your big fat foot in the door, the “selling” is up to you, one-on-one.

Which brings me to the specific tactics you can now employ, depending on the U.S.P. you have adopted. Let’s just discuss a few that might come in handy for you. Naturally, you can write informative, helpful, relevant articles/columns that are not self-serving “puff pieces”. Write for industry journals and for the general media, but write to help the people you hope to work with. If you can’t write, learn quickly, or get someone like me to write these articles for you. Then join industry and local community groups that might be a source of good leads and opportunities.

Start offering to give speeches at the Social, Service, Scientific, Medical, Military, Educational, Entertainment, Religious, Recreational, and Fraternal organizations, sororities, fraternities or associations in your town. Use the word: ‘SMERF’ to remember the classifications of each group.

When you give speeches, look at it as if you are making sales calls on dozens of prospects at the same time. Make it count. Do you homework. Be sure to include some references to your audience and something they will immediately recognize that perhaps only an “insider” might know or care about. That heightens your credibility with them. Make sure they are aware and hear what you say, and most important: that they remember you. Give them a “memory-hook” to remember you by. Say it loud and well. Differentiate yourself and do it preemptively. Immediately after you deliver speeches, you will receive telephone calls or emails to discuss matters privately. This is your chance. Now you have that big fat foot in the door.

You can connect with me via social media sites at – Facebook – Twitter – LinkedIn – Hellotxt – Dipity.com and Stumble Upon. If you are not signed up…they are free…you will meet a lot of other marketers to communicate with and possibly JV with. Social Networking is on fire right now, so be sure to use it. Note: with Hellotxt.com and Dipity.com you can update all your social sites! I look forward to being “social” with you!

If you would like help with your writing either for the web or otherwise, you may be interested in my other site Quick Penmanship. Here you can sign up for my weekly newsletter where you will be presented with what I call “starters” for your writing. Just a little suggestion about a topic that may spark your writing…and you will also receive a free eBook just for signing up….and of course you can cancel anytime.

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Tags: Advertising and Marketing, Business, Market, Market segment, Niche market, Sales, Target audience, Unique Selling Proposition

MARKETING Without A USP Can Be Deadly…

May 9, 2010 by umutkshr · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Marketing Tips, Uncategorized

: Image by nertzy via Flickr

Do you know what your unique selling proposition is? Can you spout it off to someone in less than three sentences? If you don’t know what it is, or can’t succinctly say it, you may need help. ‘Before it’s too late.

Formulating your Unique Selling Proposition is the most important strategic marketing task you will ever do.

What is the U.S.P? It’s defined as the way you do two key things up front. You differentiate yourself from all your competitors; then you do it preemptively.Let’s take each of those concepts in turn. First, you have to be different from the others. People are attracted to and buy products or services from those who are “different” from the crowd. In today’s sea of mediocrity with its me-too, commoditized products, the one that stands head and shoulders among the rest, is the one that wins.

Unfortunately standing out or taller is not quite enough. That kid in the fast food joint with the purple hair and that ugly, turning-green ring in his nose sticks out as being different. That’s where it ends. You have to do this well, positively; preemptively. It’s not enough to be different, Anyone working hard and observing what everyone else is doing, can do that. ‘At least until everyone else now has purple hair and rings in his nose. Then he’s no longer different, just another sheep, like all the rest.

What’s required here is being the first one into this market space; or being the first one with a new way of ‘being or doing’ things. In this case, s/he adopts a way that does not easily allow others to copy-cat her with his stale rendition of what s/he has worked so hard to do. Naturally, this is where patents come in, but that’s another whole discussion. We’re talking about how we offer or do something in a unique way; in a way that essentially “preempts” your competition. The key concepts are: “unique” and “preemptive.”

Remember that old example of Avis up against Hertz. When Avis came out with the slogan: “we’re #2, but we try harder,” they did two key things. First, they stole what we call the “underdog position.” They were the first to do so in the rental car market. Then they also differentiated themselves by claiming superior customer service in that same market segment. Now they owned this valuable “underdog” position in the minds of the consumer.Everyone cheers for the underdog, right? Now Avis was it, up against huge monolithic #1, Hertz. Hey, let’s hear it for the little guy! The second very smart marketing thing they did was differentiate themselves by letting their prospective customers know – in advance – just how much harder they would work for and to keep that customer’s business. In those days, no one was pointing out the ‘Emperor’s new clothes.’ The big guy was weak on service. Avis had done their marketing research. They learned the weaknesses…and the strengths…of their bigger competitors. They knew to stay away from the things the bigger rival could easily do because of size, economies of scale, or available resources. When the lawsuit launched by Hertz against Avis finally came to court, Avis now was #2. Really. When Avis originally launched their campaign, they actually were #5…or worse.If you are going to succeed in your business, you can’t do without an incisive marketing strategy that incorporates the use of the Unique Selling Proposition. The concept was first developed in the late 1940s by Rosser Reeves, then working at Ted Bates Advertising in NYC. It has stood the test of time, and is even more relevant and important to success today, 60 years later. Why? Because now we have many more products, sizes, line extensions, colors, shapes, you name it. We have more companies competing for the same scarce dollars in the customers’ pocketbook. Today, there is room only for those marketers who understand this hyper-competition. ‘Those who are willing to sit down, take a bit of time, study the market and the host of competitors. ‘Those who will produce products, services, or experiences that are different from all the commonplace others. Finally, it will be those who badly want to be the first one in the marketplace to do so in such a unique way. They want to make it very difficult to copy them, without looking exactly like nothing but a cheap copycat version of the “real thing.”It takes time, effort and tons of patience, but it’s worth it in the long run. Those who do it, will be profitable quicker, longer and still be around to tell the tale.

Those who prefer short cuts, will be bemoaning the short, but disappointing path they took. This is definitely the time when you should take the path less traveled.

You can connect with me via social media sites at – Facebook – Twitter – LinkedIn – Hellotxt – Dipity.com and Stumble Upon. If you are not signed up…they are free…you will meet a lot of other marketers to communicate with and possibly JV with. Social Networking is on fire right now, so be sure to use it. Note: with Hellotxt.com and Dipity.com you can update all your social sites! I look forward to being “social” with you!

If you would like help with your writing either for the web or otherwise, you may be interested in my other site Quick Penmanship. Here you can sign up for my weekly newsletter where you will be presented with what I call “starters” for your writing. Just a little suggestion about a topic that may spark your writing…and you will also receive a free eBook just for signing up….and of course you can cancel anytime.

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