The secret is to communicate clearly and quickly not just your difference but how your difference makes a difference in your customer’s perception of their life or business. Such a simple concept, but so rarely done well. Stand out..

4 product positioning principles that will set your business apart.

Solve a Critical Problem

Nice features and strong usability are insufficient.  People are being pitched 100 solutions that all generate incredible ROI’s…or so they say.  The internal priority is solving a critical problem.  It could be filling a gap, fixing an issue, or tapping a market.  What’s the buzz?  What do people want most?  You must define the overlapping circles of what you offer and what the market’s priority issues are.  Focus on wrapping yourself around the overlapping area of those two circles.

Unique Selling Point

You must have something unique to offer.  Not necessarily entirely unique or outrageous, but enough that it will get attention.  It’s ideally the product, but it could be the pricing, the usability, the integrated back-end  services or ‘doors opened’, but it must me something.  Too conventional will get the reaction of  “Oh, it’s basically like XYZ.  We’ve seen that.”  Intrigue them instead.

Value/Risk Reversal

Differentiate yourself with unusually bold guarantees that you're competition does not have the confidence to offer.  Most people are genuinely honest, and if your service is what you say it is, you've got nothing to worry about. This could be the cost/benefit ratio or bundled solutions  or a low-risk, easy to implement trial with trackable results.  Cut the right deals and your offer will appear "irresistible" to try compared to your competition.  The increased sales volume will be well worth it.

Clear, Concise Education

Here's where most companies fall down.  We’ve seen entire home pages that look nice and sound compelling, but when you ask the reader what the product does, they say “Uh, I’m not sure what this is”.  Create your full story for when it’s needed, then use that. Condense it to the elevator pitch.  Give yourself 2 floors.  Maybe 3.  Don't make people try to figure out on their own why they should be doing business with you. Make it obvious…and brief.

Spend some time thinking deeply about these product positioning ideas and how we can use them to your advantage. Your market share is predicated on how well you apply them.