Entries Tagged 'USP' ↓

This week I’m sharing some of my favorite takeaways from The System, an internet marketing conference I had the great pleasure to attend last weekend. You’ll find previous posts here.

One of my favorite parts of The System was getting to hear Perry Marshall, even for a short time. For those who don’t know him, Perry was the first guy to really grasp the power & potential of Google Adwords, then rocketed to fame and fortune as THE foremost authority on the subject.

Perry is usually a System presenter, but this year he took a break and was in the audience as an attendee. Nonetheless, he graciously joined the presenters onstage during the last session to take questions.

I can’t remember what the question was, but one of Perry’s answers really struck me:

“Everything comes down to your USP.”

The USP seems like a little thing, but underneath the question “what makes me different?” is a host of other stuff. It’s really about getting to the heart of who you are and what you bring to the table, what you offer the world. These are not easy questions! And they can push all sorts of emotional hot buttons. At least, they did for me.

As I struggled to get my first clients in my copywriting business, I did what comes naturally when you don’t have a clue and you’re looking for answers. I looked at what everyone else was doing, and “modeled” them.

Only it wasn’t modeling. It was a little too much copying.

I didn’t copy to be malicious or to rip others off. The excessive reliance on copying was all about insecurity and looking for answers. I felt like I didn’t know what I was doing! And these other people must be doing it “right.”

Well, maybe they were, and maybe they weren’t. But spending all that time trying to fit myself into someone else’s box… convincing myself I had to do things this way or that way because I’d fail otherwise…

As you can imagine, it only took me further away from the path. And - oh yeah, I was pretty miserable, too.

“Tell your story,” the experts advised me. (It’s good advice - you’ll hear it from me, too.)

OK, so I told my story. One version of it, anyway. The version I thought everyone wanted to hear. The one that made me wonder, “Who is that person?”

If I had to do it all again, what would I do differently?

I’d give myself plenty of time. Finding your USP is a creative act. Like all creative acts, it takes time and energy.

I’d be patient. Your USP is out there. It just needs to be uncovered and developed.

I’d not be afraid to be myself. Because here’s the coolest thing about the USP: once you have it, you’ll begin to attract the clients you’re meant to work with, the folks who resonate with you. Your perfect clients.

[If the idea of finding your USP seems a little daunting, you’re not alone! I’ll be covering USP in depth and giving you plenty of exercises to help you uncover your USP in my Painless Metaphysical Marketing teleseminars. Next class starts June 10. Details here: http://www.metaphysicalmarketing.com.]

A couple of weeks ago (waaay back when I started this blog - don’t know if you guys remember ) I talked about how NOT to be a commodity. That was my first mention of USP, one of the fundamentals of marketing.

USP stands for “unique selling position.” It’s the thing that sets YOU apart - the thing that answers the question, “Why should I do business with you, or have a consultation with you, as opposed to the squillion other readers out there?”

Finding your USP is the first step to reaching more people, increasing your income in a major way and yes, having more fun in your business too. So we’ll be looking at it a lot in the BYMBiverse. (I.e., the universe of BYMB - except I can’t figure out how to pronounce “BYMBiverse” - if anyone can figure it out, definitely let me know!)

I’ve never liked the term USP as it relates to metaphysical consultants. Yes, we are selling - I think we know that, and most of us are okay with that. But it doesn’t really capture the essence of what we do, does it?

Still, I hadn’t been able to think of anything better. Luckily, I didn’t have to. At the workshop, Anastasia of TarotPathways.com came up with something really cool. Check this out: Unique Service Position.

Yeah, that’s more like it.

(At least, I think that was Anastasia - someone correct me if I’m wrong!)

[This work is copyrighted material. Please visit http://www.buildyourmetaphysicalbusiness.com to claim your free 90 minute marketing brainstorming session with Tarot Pro James Wells.]

So let’s say you’re a Tarot reader, and after a lot of thought, you decide you’re ready to start charging for readings. You’re going to hang out your shingle and “open shop”. Huzzah! (”Huzzah” is one of my favorite words. )

At first, you’re psyched. You know in your heart this is the right choice for you and you’re going to go for it. And then the doubt starts to creep in…

On top of all the “can I really do this?” (which is tough enough to deal with - hello), there’s another little bugaboo… maybe it started to stick out its claws after you spent the day browsing the sites of other readers. It is this:

“Wow, there are so many OTHER readers out there… how am I going to, um, compete?”

Competition. Not a fun thought for metaphysical practitioners, generally (not to mention the energy inherent in the word - bah).

Relax! You don’t have to compete - not with anyone, and certainly not for business. Your business is your own.

How can this be?

Simple. You’re not like anybody else! You know it, I know it… the trick is knowing what’s unique about your business and making sure your potential clients know it.

In marketing, we call this a USP, or unique selling position. It’s the answer to the question: why should someone work with YOU over anyone else?

There are tons of reasons why: a special service you offer, your modality or combination of modalities you practice, your clientele… even parts of your personality.

Note there was one I left off the list - and this is VERY important. Can you guess what it is?

Price.

That’s right, you don’t have to be the cheapest consultant in the land. In fact, it really doesn’t serve you.

There are countless examples of businesses that have differentiated based on price. It may work for a while, but never in the long run. (Here’s an example fresh from today’s business headlines: Wal-Mart. They’re losing big time right now. Why? Because their whole position - the reason to buy from them rather than someone else - is price, and now their competition is catching up, big time.)

So, consider: what’s your unique position? What can you offer than noobody else can?

I’ll have much more on this in later posts and resources.

[This work is copyrighted material; you may not reproduce it on your website or anywhere else (though of course you’re welcome to link to it). Please visit http://www.buildyourmetaphysicalbusiness.com to claim your free 90 minute marketing brainstorming session with Tarot Pro James Wells.]