Work Smarter

It takes more than a great idea!

If all it took to start a successful business was a great idea, tens of thousands of mompreneurs would rolling in the dough. Making your dream a reality is more complicated than just giving your boss the kiss off and creating a website to sell your wares.

Branding is a critical step many entrepreneurs skip in the mad dash to start their own businesses. Branding is not just the name of your company or offering. It’s about how you position your offering in the marketplace and the way you sell it.

While effective branding continuously evolves over the life of your business, developing your brand begins with a pen, paper, and three simple steps:

Step 1: What are you offering?
List everything!

• What is your product or service?
• What support do you provide?
• What is your experience?
• Where are you located?
• How is your offering delivered?
• What is special about your offering?
• How does your offering make your buyer feel?
• What benefits does your offering provide buyers?

Step 2: What matters to your customers?
Don’t make assumptions. Interview individuals in your target to find out

• What they really want?
• What they need?
• What are they willing to pay for?
• What criteria they use when making similar buying decisions?
• Why won’t they buy?
•  
• Look at your list from Step 1…cross off every item or statement that your customers don’t care about. You could have the best warranty on the market for your organic crayons, but if 95% of your customers would never dig out their receipt, get a return label, and box up two inch pieces of colored wax to get their $3.50 back, then don’t bother telling them about it. 

Step 3: What are your competitor’s short-comings?

• Look at your list again…Cross off everything your competitors can also say. Even if competitors can’t deliver it, if they can convince buyers they can then CROSS IT OFF, it doesn’t matter.

What’s left on your list is exactly what differentiates your company or offering, in the terms that really matter to your customers. If your list includes more than three differentiators, pick the three that matter most to your customers.

Don’t waste another day advertising or talking about all the “stuff” you offer that doesn’t make your company, product, or service special. Train your staff and business partners on your differentiators, then laser-focus every customer message and interaction on your unique qualities.

BIO:  Courtney Briggs is a working mother of two and an MBA with over 15 years of advertising, sales, sales training, and management experience. Visit courtneybriggswrites.blogspot.com to learn more about her and her work. Check out momstrengths.blogspot.com to learn more about your unique Mom Strengths and how to use them to be a happier, more successful Mom.

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