In a sea of companies vying for attention, how can you make yourself stand out from the competition?

The answer is to identify and leverage your unique value proposition.

A value proposition states how your offer is relevant to your market. It also informs them of the specific benefits that they will gain from purchasing it. At the same time, it tells them why they should buy from you instead of your competitors. All these should work together to convince your buyer to choose you over any other option.

That said, it’s important to remember that features are not the same as benefits.

For example, a refrigerator manufacturer may notice that touchscreens are trending in electronics. They may create a new model with a touchscreen to make their refrigerators stand out. But if the customer doesn’t care about the touchscreen at all, that makes it a weak value proposition.

Identify Your Ideal Customer and Cater to Them

Many beginner companies make the mistake of trying to appeal to everyone. In the world of business, though, the sad truth is that you can’t please everyone. After all, every individual has different wants and needs. They also have different cultural backgrounds, beliefs, and personal preferences.

All these and more affect their buying decisions on a day-to-day basis. As a result, trying to cater to every single person will just muddle your message. If your message isn’t clear, then you won’t be able to hook anyone in at all.

Instead, think about what your ideal market is. Who are your customers? What are they like? What are their specific ‘pains’, and how does your product solve those?

To answer these questions, you need to first create an ideal customer profile that includes demographics and psychographics. Some good questions to ask yourself include, but are not limited to:

  • How old are they?
  • Where do they live?
  • What kind of job do they have?
  • How much spending power do they have?
  • What do they like to do in their spare time?

If you know exactly who you appeal to the most, you’ll have an easier time figuring out what makes you unique. It’ll also make it easier to craft your marketing efforts in a way that resonates with them.

Focus On Standing Out, Rather than Being the Best

Many businesses try to position themselves as the best in their respective industries. The thing is, every company can’t be at the very top of the list. There’s only a single spot for number one, after all.

That’s why trying to be ‘the best’ won’t make you stand out. If you’re saying the same thing as everyone else, then you’ll end up blending in with the rest of them.

If that’s the case, how else can you stand out from the competition?

The good news is that you don’t have to be the best at all. All you have to do is to be different.

Instead of squeezing into an already crowded market, break away and create a new market space. If you change the rules of the game, you’ll make the competition irrelevant.

But how do you make yourself different? There are many ways to do this, but one method is to be the first to do something novel. Think of how Uber revolutionized the way that people hail rides today. They didn’t try to find yet another traditional taxi or rental car company. Instead, they were the first to use technology to connect drivers and riders.

You can also set yourself apart by identifying a different demand your offer can solve. That is, use a unique angle that your competitors haven’t thought of before.

Share your Brand Story in Words Your Target Market Will Understand

Some businesses think that trying to impress with technical or sophisticated language will improve their prospects. It is true that there is a time and place for industry-specific lingo.  However, using jargon doesn’t automatically make you sound more compelling than the competition.

In fact, using unnecessarily complicated wording may backfire and repel your market instead. After all, what good is your proposition if they can’t understand what you’re trying to say?

Thus, it’s crucial to make your unique value proposition easy to understand. That is, it should be clear, at a glance, what your customer will get out of purchasing your offer. Using simple and conversational language is usually all you need to get the point across. A great way to do this is to imagine that you’re explaining your offer to a friend in casual conversation.

That said, try not to fall for the temptation of going for “witty” wording. While some lines may sound more memorable, it won’t always mean that you’re getting the right message across. Remember: in the end the customer doesn’t really care about witty taglines, but they do care about what benefits they’ll get from what you’re selling. Thus, always go for clarity in your message even when you are being creative.

At the end of the day, it all boils down to putting yourself in your customer’s shoes. By learning more about their pain points, you’ll know how to position your offer. At the same time, you’ll be able to optimize marketing to not only get their attention but to resonate with them, too. Keeping all these tips in mind, you should be able to craft your unique value proposition in no time.