How to Differentiate Your Online Business on Your Home Page
Dan Wilson,
Brand Etc. LLC, Rocklin, CA
Jun 26, 2007, 08:41
Millions of shoppers regularly buy products online. But even if they purchase offline, over 70% use the Internet to research goods and services. Corporate procurement departments evaluate vendor websites to decide who makes the first cut before RFPs (Request for Proposals) are ever sent out. All this puts a huge burden on your website not only to provide potential customers with the information they're looking for, but also to make your offerings stand out from the competition.
Begin Differentiation in the First Paragraph
The first paragraph of your home page should explain concisely what you do. The next paragraphs should set you apart. That's what users expect these days. But offering what people expect is like offering the minimum bid for playing a hand of poker. To stay in the game, you'll need to raise the stakes.
Find Your Differentiators
What do you offer that your competitors don't? What do customers get from you that they can't get anywhere else? Do you offer:
- Industry leadership (and how this was determined)?
- Widest selection?
- Most experience?
- More convenient locations?
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- A more stylish design?
- Most advanced equipment?
- Patented technology?
- Superior customer service?
- Faster shipping?
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Even if you already have good idea of some of your advantages, write them down. These are not only the foundation for powerful messages; they are the keys to your ongoing success.
Build Emotional Impact
Now put yourself in your customers' shoes. What motivates them? What solutions do you provide to ease their pains, alleviate their fears, and help them reach their aspirations? Ads for pain-relievers often follow the formula "Find the pain. Emphasize the pain. Provide a solution to the pain." Avis helps you imagine what the world would be like if they didn't "try harder." Nike doesn't advertise equipment; they advertise the passion of sport. What resonates with your target audience? What is your customer's world like without you? How will their world be better with you in the picture?
Chart Your Undiscovered Advantages
Marketing differentiators are sometimes discovered by accident. Though Ivory soap has carried the same unique properties since its introduction in the 1860s, it wasn't until 1881 that it "discovered" its famous "99 and 44/100 Percent Pure" differentiator. It took another ten years to find that there was demand for yet another of its properties: "It Floats." Which of your company's best differentiators are hiding in plain sight, waiting to be discovered?
Five Tests of a Strong Message
In our consulting practice, we often spend several days with clients, mapping out features and benefits as compared to their competitors. We explore who their best customers are and why, examine what drives buying decisions for those customers, and help craft messages that highlight areas in which our clients excel, all the time building emotional impact. Each of the top-level differentiators we propose must meet the following five tests:
- Is it important to the customer?
- Is it unique to this company, product, or service?
- Is this a sustainable competitive advantage?
- Is it memorable?
- Is this advantage easy to prove?
The process may seem like a lot of work -- and it is. But what you end up with is sales messaging that can be repeated and reinforced consistently everywhere -- on your website and all your communications. Developing solid messaging is critical to your business and central to building your brand.
Dan Wilson is a marketing consultant who has been helping companies reach the next level through their communications efforts for over 13 years. Dan is the Principal and Founder of Brand, Etc. LLC (www.brandetc.com), a brand development and marketing communications firm based in the Sierra Foothills.
