There are many times in life when it's inappropriate to "toot your own horn", but as a home business owner, it's imperative!
You see, there are lots of horn blowers out there, and it's difficult to tell them apart. You're going to have to be different. It's not a matter of "He who toots the loudest.." or "He who toots longest..." (thank goodness). It's about who toots the most frequently and with the most unique, the most resonant, the most memorable sound.
The tune you play, needs to draw your audience in, to the exclusion of all others. Remember, you're flying solo as a home business entrepreneur, and you're in competition with a lot of other home businesses looking to get noticed online. How will you get noticed? How will you set yourself apart? Why would anyone want to hear your song over someone else's? What is your Unique Selling Proposition?
Why the hub-bub over a well defined USP?
For starters, it’s the key to effective marketing. Though it’s nothing new, it is still essential, and no successful business survives without it.
You need to be able to articulate every nook and cranny, every feature and benefit of your business. You need to be able to justify the existence of your business with such specificity that you convincingly attract new customers to you/your product/your service.
In Seth Godin’s book, “The Purple Cow”, he talks about being remarkable, memorable, worth talking about. He contends that if you create a buzz about your business, people will talk and share and your USP will spread like wildfire through social media and word of mouth.
Famous copywriter Dan Kennedy defines the USP like this:
When you set out to attract a new, prospective customer to your business for the first time, there is one, paramount question you must answer:
“Why should I choose your business/product/service versus any/every other competitive option available to me?”
8 STEPS TO BECOMING THE MOST "TALKED ABOUT TOOTER!"
(translation: Steps to creating a USP worth talking about!)
These 8 steps are designed to get you thinking about what you would say if you were allowed to shamelessly “toot your horn”. It’s a series of open-ended questions that will take some time to complete. Since it’s important to know how other people see you too, you may want to solicit a good friend to complete one separately.
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8 Steps to a Clearly Defined USP
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Record your answers on paper or in a word application on your computer. When you’re approaching each of the questions, be very specific with your answers. If more than one answer comes to mind, write it down as well. The more detail you give, the better. Keep in mind, your first instinct is closest to your true feelings.
- What are you selling? (product, service, etc) justify your business existence
- What do you enjoy doing the most? What brings you pleasure and contentment, sense of purpose?
- What are you better at than anyone else? (creating, communicating, listening, collaborating, analyzing, organizing, writing, team building, selling, calculating, following through, etc)
- What is remarkable about you? (What sort of things do other people tend to say about you, your skills, talents?) List any that you can think of, beginning with the most frequent comments from others. What are the commonalities?
- Do