Make Your Product Stand Out in 3 Simple Steps
Do you think your company has a unique product & offers?
Here’s the truth; you probably don’t, and there is nothing wrong about it.
Some of the world’s most successful products are not totally new, original or unique. Take the classic example of Google. Google’s founders ’ Larry & Sergey didn’t invent the search engine, yet the one they found out is generating crores of rupees in profits.
This is because they differentiated their product from the sea of other search engines over the years.
So, if you want to truly differentiate and make your product stand out from the crowd, here are 3 proven tips to help:
1. Target Audience: Define your perfect audience
’If you try to appeal to everyone, you will end up appealing to no-one’
Defining and choosing a specific target audience helps you make your product stand out from the rest, as long as you don’t choose the same target audience as your competitors.
For example:
- McDonald’s target audience includes students, employees and professionals within the age group of 8 to 45 years, belonging to low & middle-income groups and having an easy-going personality.
- Facebook: The target audience of Facebook has evolved with the company. In the initial years of its operations, Facebook targeted college students of the United States.
But now Facebook has widened its target market focusing on millennials (25-34 years) and mobile using adults in 157 countries.
Choosing a specific audience for your brand is a start, marketing is the next step.
Marketing that doesn’t hit its intended target audience is classified as a waste, and marketing that does hit its target audience is classified as effective & efficient. The key here is to give your target audience something that interests them.
2. PSP Formula: Problem Solving Product (Value Proposition)
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’You don’t grow when you try to make money, you grow when you try to offer the right value to your customers’ |
Your value proposition tells your customers at a glance, what you do, and how you’re different & perhaps better from your competitors.
It might not be the actual features that make your product standout from the crowd, but the way you deliver your service or a disruption brought about by you in a traditional function (think Ola Cabs or OYO rooms, for example)
Examples of Strong Value Proposition include:
Twitter: ’See what’s happening in the world right now’
Khan Academy: ’You can learn anything’
WeWork: ’Space to elevate your work’
These are all recognizable statements from companies that stand out from their competitors in their respective industries for their branding and positioning.
Having clarity on what your value proposition is and what makes your business unique will help your customers understand what’s unique about your brand too and make your product stand out.
3. Customer Service: Providing consistent & quality customer service
Your product is only one half of the equation in making your brand stand out. Strong customer support & service is the other half. A perfect balance between the two decided whether the consumer will make the initial purchase from you and whether they’ll continue to buy from you in the future.
- Statistics shows that 45% of customers will immediately exclude products that come with additional shipping fees during an initial product search.
- Similarly, other areas that matter includes warranty coverage, fast shipping, and hassle-free exchange & returns.
As a brand, your goal should be to provide consistent & high-quality experience to your customers, right from the moment a customer places their order till it reaches them at home.
Making your product stand out from the competition is getting more challenging nowadays. But it’s also becoming a necessity. Starting with these 3 fundamentals will help you breakthrough.
As the marketplace gets crowded, business owners need to leverage all the moving parts of their business in order to survive. Focusing on your target audience, the value proposition of your product and excellent customer service will help you make your product stand out among an increasing sea of sameness.