Are you struggling to stand out from your competitors?
You’re not alone. In a world of noise and lots of competition it’s important for you to thoughtfully, strategically, and methodically work towards differentiating your business from your competition by creating a Core Difference.
What is a Core Difference?
A core difference is a unique value proposition that you communicate to your prospects and customers that positions your business differently than your competition. A company’s core difference can be related to what you do or sell (if that’s unique), how you do it (if that’s unique), why you do it (if that’s unique), or even who does it (if that’s unique). And your core difference should always be customer-centric.
Research to guide your core difference
To develop a good core difference you will need to perform research. This research will give you the information you need in order to craft a core difference that will resonate with your target customers.
These 4 research steps are vital to creating a powerful core difference:
Research your audience: it’s all about your target audience. The more you can know about them and their buying habits, the more you can align your message to them.
Create ideal buyer personas: from the research you just did, map out an avatar of what your typical ideal buyer looks like. Persona’s are a great tool to help you stay focused on your target audience.
Research your competitors: dig deep into what your competitors offer, how they deliver, and how their total online presence compares to yours. Again your marketing consultant will yield far deeper insights than you can find on your own.
Analyze your product or service vs the competition: document and analyze your product/service offering vs. your competition.
Create a core difference
Now that you’ve acquired a good amount of competitive intelligence and developed a much deeper understanding of your target customers, you’re ready to build out your core difference.
A strong core difference usually begins with a short headline that immediately highlights a unique offering (and/or connects with a pain point of your target audience) and a follow-up sentence that supports that headline.
Test, Analyze and Iterate
Your core difference isn’t cast in stone, it should flex and adapt to the market and your target audience. Once you’ve developed it, you will need to regularly look at its performance and ensure it is resonating with your target customers and tweak as required.
(Source: Duct Tape Marketing)
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