Non-Sleazy Marketing to Get Your Clients to Choose you
How do your clients know how to choose your solution over your competitor?
Are you setting yourself apart from all the other choices? Are you clearly defining your value and uniqueness?
This is important because if you can’t differentiate yourself from your competition in any other way, you have to do it with price.
And offering rock-bottom prices isn’t a great way to attract your ideal clients, build loyalty and repeat business, or grow your bottom-line.
So how do you set yourself apart?
The Problem:
Conventional marketing and most business coaches will tell you to take one of two approaches:
Try to figure out what people want and then try to do that, OR
Look at what our competition is doing and try to do something different.
The problem with both of these tactics is that you’re looking outside yourself for answers.
There is nothing inherently wrong with either of these approaches after you’re already clear about what YOU are amazing at.
But the problem is that most people aren’t yet rock-solid in their confidence about the skills and talents they bring to their work, so as soon as they start to answer these questions, they go down the road of self-compromise and begin to build a business that doesn’t actually work for them.
They create offerings that don’t light them up, attract clients who aren’t ready for their work, and drain their energy and resources building a business that they can’t sustain.
Set yourself up for success by demonstrating your unique value
Welcome to your USP! (Unique Selling Proposition).
Your USP sets you apart from your competition and basically describes whatever you do that is different (and probably better) than what everyone else in your field is doing.
It helps your ideal clients recognize that your solution is the best solution for them.
I don’t want you to focus on your job description here. This isn’t about what you think you should do, or even how you currently define your job.
These are things you’re already doing because you’re amazing at them! You do them easily and with delight.
They’re your gifts.
Some of these things could include the energy you bring to your clients or the way you see their problems. It could be the amount of information you know and understand, your knack for providing a certain experience, or even something as simple as the way you decorate your office.
The unique combination of all these things comprises your unique brilliance. It’s the reason your ideal clients will be happier with your service than with anyone else’s.
This special set of gifts comes so easily and naturally to you that they’re a part of what you do all the time.
You’ve probably unknowingly built your business around them, and the parts of your business that aren’t flowing well probably don’t have enough of these things in them.
You naturally bring these things to every client interaction, and they even show up in conversations with friends, family, and random people you meet in line at the grocery store. Your gifts are a part of you — a big part.
That doesn’t mean you haven’t had to work for them, or that they didn’t take discipline to master, or even that you’ve been good at them your entire life.
It just means that right now, at the present time, this combination of greatness, skill, and brilliance adds up to your personal brand of awesome, and that’s as far as you need to look for your USP.
How well can you describe what sets you apart?
Answer these questions to hone in on what is exceptional and unique about what you do.
What do you love about what you do?
Why do you love doing it?
What do your friends and family always come to you for? What are you known for? (If you’re not sure, ask them!)
What do your testimonials repeatedly say about working with you?
What gives you more energy when you do it?
Now, take a few minutes to review your answers. What are the common themes that keep showing up? Are there any surprises?
Remember that we often discount our gifts because they come so easily to us. We may need other people to point them out to us.
Look more closely at questions 3 and 4. What are the things people keep coming to you for and how does that line up with what you’ve read in your testimonials?
(Note: if you don’t have a lot of testimonials yet, that’s okay. Take this opportunity to reach out and get some! If you’d like some guidance on how to ask for them, check out my other free resource: Testimonials that Sell in the free library to give you great questions to ask. Just sign up here to get access to the library.)
After reviewing your answers about your gifts, write a couple of sentences or phrases that describe them. This is the core of your USP.
Don’t worry about perfecting it. This is just to distill all your answers into a few words or phrases that you can use to tweak your website copy, sales pages, and nurture sequences to attract more of your ideal clients.
Common Objections:
But what if I don’t do a bunch of things very well? Or at least not better than anyone else?
Keep in mind that we often dismiss our gifts because they come to us so easily. Don’t overlook something because it seems too simple or obvious.
A common response I get to these questions is, “Yeah, I enjoy that, and I do that pretty well, I guess, but … don’t a lot of people? Everyone can listen well/organize their thoughts/motivate people/work in a team/work alone/sketch a drawing/etc.”
No, they really can’t.
I know people who love to be in a crowd and people who can be alone for days at a time. I know people who are wonderful listeners, storytellers, and communicators, but rarely is someone all three.
I know people who love to cook and people who love to clean, but rarely both. Some people are completely at home speaking to a group of 500 and some people can write 5,000 words a day.
We are all different, and the things that come the most easily to us are the easiest to discount because we feel like everyone can do them.
By looking at all the things that come naturally to you, you’ll probably get closer to figuring out where your genius lies, and who needs it.
This is important, because you can’t attract your ideal clients, and grow your business, until you acknowledge what you’re amazing at.
Trust that if you really love to do it, people are out there looking for it.
Right now, people are looking for products or services, but they can’t find them because you’re either not providing them or not broadcasting that you are, so they’re settling for someone else.
Remember, the Universe wants you to succeed and be happy.
Doing what you know you came here to do is your own path to enlightenment/bliss/party-time/whatever you believe.
So approach the exploration of your uniqueness with a sense of responsibility and obligation to yourself and all of your current and future customers, with a belief that you are incredibly supported and trust that doing more of what you love is the best way to serve you, your business, and your clients.
Don’t worry about what your competition is doing. Tap into what makes you happy, and plan your business around that.
Want more help identifying your USP? Get my Get Clear on Your Gifts Guide. Sign up here to get access to the library.
