Differentiate Yourself and Your Marketing

In this post, you'll learn about differentiating yourself, your product, and your service. Although the post focuses on the financial industry, I found it interesting from the perspective of a unique selling proposition.. and how to differentiate your product in the "me too" market. I hope you'll agree. Here you go..

How to Get Prospects to Choose You
Well, we can all take a great lesson from how billionaires Stewart and Lynda Resnick marketed over hundred acres of unwanted pomegranates. All the way up to 2002, pomegranates were rarely eaten in the US. Less than one in 20 had ever bought a pomegranate, and most of those people use them for decorations instead of eating them.

So the Resnick's had a problem. They had lots of a fruit that very few people wanted. So what did they do? They created a fantastic USP. Five years ago, they began selling their pomegranates as juice in unique double bulb bottles, at four dollars a bottle. It was a smash hit!

They took a fruit from utter obscurity to charging four dollars a bottle and have people buying it by the case. How? They simply did their homework. They framed the pomegranate juice as the healthiest drink available to the US public. I don't know if you've tasted it, but the stuff is awful.

The Resnick's flooded the market with information about how healthy pomegranate juice was. It cures heart disease, ED and more. You name it. Pomegranate cured it. It became the new, must have "super food".

So what can you learn from this example? Go out and give advice that is the completely opposite of what everyone else is providing in your industry? Yes, if you can. Unfortunately, that is probably not an option. The advice the financial industry gives, is generally very good advice.

But let's think about this for a second. All fruits are good for you. You can find the "super food" characteristics in any type of fruit. All the Resnicks did with pomegranate, was showcase pomegranate's particular attributes, versus trying to be the "me too" of fruits. So, here's what you should be doing now.
How to Find Your Unique Selling Proposition
You need to find the thing that makes you better than your competitors.
- Maybe you are an expert on "green" funds.
- Maybe you're an expert on the stocks of companies run by women.
- Maybe you understand the need for financial planning for families with special needs.
- Maybe you are an expert on the retirement plans of a large corporation in your city.
- Maybe you're an expert on Medicare part D

There's a high likelihood, you are already an expert on a particular topic. You may not require a whole heck of a lot more research than you've already done. Sit down and figure out what it is that you know more about, than your competition. It doesn't matter what it is, just become an expert.

3 Ways to Become an Expert and Gain Instant Celebrity Status
1. Write articles and submit them to targeted print and online publication. For submitting articles to the top websites, ezines and article directories, I recommend using PR Leads Article Marketing Experts. They also have a great A to Z product that will teach you how to write articles at www.BroadcastYourArticles.com

2. Issue press releases to your local paper, radio and TV stations. You can also submit press releases online using services like PublicRelationsSoftware.com.

3. Make sure groups that may be interested in your expertise know that you and your expertise exists. By being the expert on any issue, you tell your prospects that you are different from your competition. You give both your clients and prospects something to hold onto, a handhold that describes who you are as a financial planner.

Your Next Steps Take a hard look at your practice and ask yourself the question, "Why would someone work with me, versus my competitor?" If you don't have a very specific answer to this question, you are doomed to mediocrity. You are always going to be looking for your next client. You're always going to be spending money on marketing. You're always going to be losing some of your clients to competitors. The only way off, the gerbil wheel is to become an expert.

When you are an expert people seek you out, rather than you endlessly seeking them out. Don't you think, it's time to make yourself into an expert so you can lock-in your difference and bury your competition?

About the Author
By becoming an expert, Top Financial Advisor Coach, Jim Dew MBA, ChFC made over $3MM last year helping financial advisors grow their businesses exponentially. Now, you can take his free quiz and receive an individualized report back within 24 hours detailing your strengths and weaknesses. Then use this report to boost your marketing and profitability to the next level. Take the quiz now at http://www.300financial.com