I spent an hour with a building contractor last week; they wanted help getting business from their website. I always ask the same 2 opening questions when I meet a new client:
- Who is your target market?
- What is your USP, what sets you apart from all your competitors?
I found this client particularly interesting- his answers were:
Q: Who is your target market?
A: Provide the service nationally but would like to do more work locally. Can get work in the wilds of Cork or Donegal but not on his own door step.
Q: What is your USP, what sets you apart from all your competitors?
A: Don’t know. Nothing.
Now that I had this information I took a look at his site, it looked nice and was quite user friendly but he was reinvesting in a new site with some great interactive elements that ensured the user understood the key elements of what he provided but still no sign of a USP. So I dug and I dug deep. And finally after about 30mins of discussions I realised that yes he did build houses, yes they were energy efficient houses just like all his competitors but he also used particular timber frames and materials that immediately gave a home owner a higher rating in a BER cert before they even called a BER assessor out. Bingo.
The moral of this story is that you need a USP (unique selling point); you need to know what sets you aside from your competitors and you need to shout it from the roof tops so potential clients know what it is.
- Write about the benefits not just the features of what you do/sell.
- If you provide accommodation what do you do that is different to the hotel down the road?
- Sell products or services? What is different about your product or service? – Why would I buy from you over your competitors? And it does not mean that you have to be cheaper, what additional value do you bring?
- Create key features on your website that showcase your USP – don’t rely on your website visitors digging as deep as I did. They won’t and as a result you will loose them to your competitor
- Make sure your USP is timely, attracts people now e.g. got Christmas offerings or USP that would attract the Christmas market, is it on your website now and has it been there for the last few weeks, if not why not?
You MUST stand out from the crowd to succeed online.
The post Set yourself apart from your competitors on the web – succeed online appeared first on Be Dynamic.
