If you tell me that you’re selling pots, I’ll hit you over the head with one. Seriously. Because why do I need another pot? If I did need a pot, and all you are selling is pots, I’m going to look for the cheapest, best-looking one. And if you can’t be the cheapest and you can’t be the best, then you can’t have my business.
(I realize I might be on a 2am rant with this one, but hear me. I really do have a point.)
If you’re selling me a pot, it has to be the cheapest OR it has to be the best. (Or at least I have to think that it is). But there is one more option.
If you can’t be the cheapest and you can’t be the best, you’ve got to stop selling pots
You’re not Wal-Mart (I’m assuming…although I do not discriminate against readers who ARE Wal-Mart). So we can assume you’re not the cheapest. And you’re not Apple, so we can assume that you’re not the best. (Sorry PC users. That really was just a joke. Don’t send hate mail.) Basically, if you’re not the cheapest and you’re not the best, then you’ve got to be completely different. You can’t compete, so you have to get rid of your competition by selling something else.
But what to sell?
Let’s say you are a life coach. You get up one day, you yawn and stretch, and then you decide to put up a services page on your website. It goes something like this:
- One hour of coaching – $200
- Two hours of coaching – $300
- Four hours of coaching – $500
- Eight hours of coaching (BEST VALUE!) – $700
We’ve all seen this, right? Your services may be a pretty good deal, but you’re definitely not the cheapest. And you may have been in the industry for five years, but you’re probably not the absolute best life coach there is. On top of that, what if I were to tell you that people don’t buy coaching? (Really, they don’t.) If you’re not the cheapest, you’re not the best, and people don’t even buy coaching, then this services page is utterly doomed for failure.
Marketing gurus call this a unique selling proposition — blah, blah, blah. All it means is that you can’t sell the same thing as other people. You don’t sell life coaching. You sell a completely customized Rock-your-life plan. (Just writing that makes me want to buy one.)
What this has to do with your voice
You can’t develop a voice for your brand if you think you’re selling a product that you’re not selling. If you think you’re selling life coaching (which, as we mentioned, people don’t even buy), but in reality you’re selling custom-tailored, easy-to-follow rock-your-life plans for creative people, you’re going to have a time of it.
So first, figure out what it is that you’re selling. The voice will develop naturally if you can grab on to that and run with it. Hard.
3 Comments
Damn right! Be the best or be unique, that’s what I always say. Or at least have been saying since I started this comment.
If you’re neither, you’re awash in a sea of competitors that all bleed into one another and your potentials can’t make a choice. Make the choice easy by being different/better/uglier/friendlier than the other guy.
Nicely said, Sarah. You’re channeling Seth Godin (and that’s meant as a compliment).
I, and I’ll speak liberally for the masses here, frequently get approached by bland facades of another person’s idea. A conceptual knock-off, if you will. My reaction is always the same: if you have the gumption to be an entrepreneur, do it for real by differentiating yourself and bringing something truly unique and/or valued to the conversation. Let’s face it: you aren’t excited about it…why would we be? We’re tired of being pitched the same old stuff in the same old way, and the kitchen doesn’t need another pot.
A rock-your-life-kinda-post, Sarah.
Thanks guys. (And that’s an extremely high compliment, David.)
A lot of people think they’re doing it, but they’re not. In theory they believe in distinguishing themselves, but in practice, it’s like they’re blinded to their sameness.