Do you know what motivates your customers? Your business’s unique selling proposition (USP) is the one factor that will differentiate you from your competition and lets your potential clients understand why your service is better than a similar offering. It will also indicate how your firm adds value to your clients.

How to differentiate your business

Position your firm effectively in the market: As Seth Godin famously stated, “instead of working so hard to prove the skeptics wrong, it makes more sense to delight the true believers.”

Your best clients are going to spread the word for you. Don’t try to be everything to everyone. Position your firm so that you can add value to your target clients. The uniqueness of your service will make it apparent that you add value.

Think like your clients: Be rigorous about the value you add to your clients. Do not fall in love with your own services. Instead, ensure that you are serving your clients.

Let’s take the example of a coffee shop. Your clients might come to your business to drink coffee, but there are many other important reasons that they may choose to visit your store and ultimately become loyal customers. For example, they may enjoy the ambiance, convenience, friendliness, customer service or quality of coffee! You need to understand what makes your customers keep coming back and what makes you stand apart from your competitors.

Know what motivates your clients and their buying patterns: Effective marketing requires a solid understanding of psychology and what drives your customers. You need to understand the demographics of your clients (age, profession, income and geographic location).

Understanding the profile of your customers enables you to market more effectively to them. Do your clients buy your product on the basis of their desires? Do they really need your product? You need to understand exactly what motivates your clients and position your firm to address these motivations.

Understand why they really choose your firm over your competitors: As your business grows you will need to understand why customers choose your product over your competitors. Your best source of information is your customers. Ask them why they chose to work with you and how you can collaborate with them to develop the most effective service offering for their unique needs.

Advanced marketing tips

Take the time to market: We are all busy! Marketing, as a consequence, often gets neglected. Most firm’s in the Accounting industry do almost nothing to market, so just a little bit of work will make you stand out. You may want to hire a key person to take over some of the marketing responsibilities. This will prevent your staff from being overloaded with work.

Build your network: The more people you know in your industry, the more effectively you can spread the word of mouth about your business. Building a reputation is a great way to get new clients on board.

Hold Events: Events not only help you retain clients, and helps you reconnect with them but also gives you the opportunity to create killer partnerships. At industry events, you often get the chance to connect with some of the most important players in your industry, allowing you to work together on marketing strategies. What could be more effective?

Implement a referral strategy: Referrals are an important source of business for all industries. By having happy customers spread the word, you create an army of people who spread the word about your business.

Takeaways

You need to have a unique selling proposition. Successful businesses are clear on the value proposition which they present to their clients, in addition to understanding what motivates your clients and why people chose your services. With this information, you can improve and better your services to align with your client’s requirements.