How different do you need to be?
It’s one of the oldest and most often asked questions in business: What’s your point of difference? Or “what’s your unique selling point?” Or “what do you do differently?”
But how different do you actually need to be?
Here’s our top 3 things to know about being different.
1: There’s having a difference and there’s being different
You might well have a point of difference with your product or service, but that’s not the same as being different with how you communicate.
You might well be the only business that has the “sustainably made, one of a kind, from the hidden forests of Switzerland, red chairs” but the way you communicate that could be the same as everyone else who has red chairs.
You have to consider both the product or service difference and then how you communicate that to your potential customers.
2: 20%
That’s how different you want to be to your competitors – from an advertising/marketing perspective.
Any more than that and you’re likely to alienate your potential customers because people don’t actually like things too different.
It’s like when you see that person who truly wants to express themselves by behaving or dressing in a bizarre way. It’s a great call for attention, but most people are more likely to give them a wide berth.
3: Be quantifiable or be first or be both
Ya have to walk the talk. So if you’re saying it out loud to the world you have to be able to deliver on it and live it.
If your product/service has a discernable point of difference then shout it out loud.
If your product/service is pretty much the same as everything else in the market, but nobody else is talking about one of the features or benefits, then focus on that and the audience will think yours is the different one.
In the perfect world, be the first to talk about the discernable difference you have.
So there it is, having different vs being different vs communicating different, each as important as each other.