When I was in college back in the 90’s earning my marketing degree, the focus was on marketing tangible products rather than on marketing services. As a result, my understanding of unique selling proposition (USP) was based on marketing a product. In this post, we will focus on your USP for marketing services as a service professional.
The description for USP in one of my old advertising textbook is: The unique selling proposition, or the differentiating features, of every product advertised; a concept developed by Rosser Reaves of the Ted Bates advertising agency.
However, according to a recent article I read by Peter Vogopoulos, co-founder of Firepole Marketing, if you are a service provider, your USP is you. Peter says, “You are the only variable that cannot be replicated. Your competitors can have the same hours, offer the same products, get certified from the same place, offer the same result, same, same, all the same as you, but they can never be you.” Click here to read the entire article.
For nine years I have been scratching my head trying to figure out what is unique about our Internet marketing services. Why should someone retain our services rather than work with Billy Bob and Associates. I was working from the premise of what I learned at Arizona State University; marketing a tangible product.
According to Peter, we have to connect to our potential clients on a personal level. When we bring our true values and attributes to the table, someone will like us and be inspired to do business with us.
According to Bob Bly, who is the author of “World’s Best Copywriting Secrets,” that in addition to your intangible USP, your personality, service professionals also have a tangible USP. Bob says, “The tangible USP is the visible, quantifiable differentiator between you and your competitors. Because it can be seen, felt, described, and grasped, the tangible USP is the one you feature in your marketing copy.” You can read Bob’s article by going here.
So, based on the concept developed by Rosser Reaves if you are advertising/marketing a product, you have to come up with differentiating features as your USP. Peter Vogopoulos says be you, and Bob Bly suggests be you, as well as create a tangible USP for your marketing copy, which differentiates you from your competitors.
What are your thoughts on unique selling proposition? We would love to hear what you think. Leave us your comments below. Come back next week for more Internet marketing tips.
It is recommended that if you use a personal photo for your Business Facebook page, that you use one that is a professional headshot and/or company logo (for branding). If you wish to not provide a logo there, you may also place it on other areas of the Business Facebook page; however, keep in mind the profile picture is designed to market your company. Your goal is to brand clients so they recognize and associate whatever it is you may do with your logo.
Adding Friends
After the creation of your profile, you can go “live” with your page. At this point you will want to begin the process of adding friends. Search for groups who are involved in a similar business and add current and former coworkers. Don’t wait for someone to come to you, become involved. At this time you can bring in your other social networking skills and combine them into your Facebook page. If you have an existing LinkedIn and/or Twitter accounts, these can also lead to new contacts within the Facebook’s network. Keep in mind you must always engage with your audience.
When managing a company page on LinkedIn possibly, one of the most important resources is the recently built-in analytic system. Many companies have been offering this as a service for a fee, but times have changed. Now offered to its users free of charge, LinkedIn provides companies with the ability to see who, what, when, and where built right in. With the easy to read/see charts running a LinkedIn campaign has never been easier.
Page Views
Broken down on a monthly scale you can track page views, both on a specific level and on an individual as well. If your advertising on LinkedIn is working, this will tell you where and what content people are enjoying. If it is not, it also tells you what they are not enjoying. It also shows you how you may compare to similar companies.
Unique Visitors
Broken down in the similar monthly form as page views, you are able to see just how many of those views are by separate users. This tells you how many are revisits your page possibly has. Depending on the product/service you are marketing your wanted results will vary.
Clicks
This area shows you clicks based on the links on any given page, which ones are clicked the most and the least. This is helpful because it can tie into your website analytics which is a whole other monster all together.
Members following and member visits
This gives you great input, it allows you to see what number of your visits and followers are already members of LinkedIn. This will allow you to see if your advertising efforts are still best spent on LinkedIn alone or if it’s worth exploring other avenues as well.
LinkedIn in the end is just like any other social media outlet, it takes work and dedication to understand, watch and learn. It is also ever changing. No single marketing plan works for all companies, or even groups of companies. What it all boils down to, if you want your marketing to be successful, you need to seriously consider hiring a professional. Doing it on your own is great and works best for small start-ups, but eventually you have to make the financial leap if you want big numbers.
As we discussed last week, building a network on LinkedIn is only the beginning of a successful LinkedIn marketing plan. Once you have firmly established your place on this social networking giant, it is time to push it a step further with the Groups feature. There are two sides of this feature – creating groups and joining groups. We discussed joining groups last week. This week we will cover creating groups.
Create a Group
Once you are familiar (and comfortable) with the Groups on LinkedIn, you will be able to take your marketing plan even further by building your own Group. Doing so will help to increase your own social network dramatically. It will also allow you to build a stronger reputation in your own industry or market.
Keep in mind that simply having a LinkedIn Group is not necessarily enough. You need to be the “face” of your group. Stay actively involved in the discussions, post credible and reliable information, and don’t just make it about your own product. Make the people in your network feel that they are important because they belong to something.
As your LinkedIn Group grows, you will be able to add Group Managers to help you moderate the discussions and activities. What many people don’t realize is that a lot of social network users really want to feel involved in something important; therefore, they will be willing to moderate a group for no compensation at all.
Use the Manager’s Choice (Featured Discussions) feature to highlight your own articles or marketing pieces for yourself. Don’t forget to feature discussions from other users as well – again, so you don’t appear to be too zealous with your own marketing plugs.
As you spend more time with your newly formed LinkedIn Group, you will find yourself growing more and more accustomed to the features and how to use them to your advantage. Take the time to familiarize yourself with what you can and cannot do as you steadily build the number of members in your Group. Of course, remember to take time to actually get to know your most active participants and keep yourself available to everyone in your LinkedIn Group as a potential mentor or for networking opportunities.
LinkedIn is another great resource for marketing your business, product, or service. Unlike other social networking sites, LinkedIn specifically targets professionals, entrepreneurs, and the like to network right on their website. It takes the social aspect of networking to a completely different level.
Build Your Network Day-by-Day
Building your network on LinkedIn may appear to be a little overwhelming in the beginning, but it doesn’t have to be. Start out small by connecting with people you already know. With a user base of more than sixty million, it is usually a safe assumption that most (if not all) of your colleagues are on this social networking site.
Once you have connected with people you already know, start reaching out to existing customers. If you are advertising your LinkedIn profile on your homepage and other social media outlets (such as Facebook and Twitter), you are probably already receiving connection requests from your customers.
As your network grows, start attracting new contacts by searching for people who may be interested in your product or service. This is also a great way to build business relationships with other companies. Incorporating non-competing businesses into your network is a great way to get more exposure.
Remember, a hearty network takes time and effort to build, and you will only get out of it what you put into it. You need to be prepared to devote a good amount of time to building your presence within the LinkedIn site. However, you will find that the investment of your time will have a solid pay off in the end as long as you stick with it.
We haven’t always had the social media advantage in marketing but the truth is that people have been using this business approach for centuries. As long as there has been a product to sell, entrepreneurs have been marketing it to their friends, family, and colleagues. Take the social marketing and mix it with today’s technology and you have Social Media Marketing. This marketing style is created from a blend of classic advertising and social networking.
Why does it work?
Marketing with social media is essentially word-of-mouth advertising. People are much more likely to purchase a product or try a service that is recommended by a friend or family member, because they have backed it with their own experience. This recommendation increases the product’s reputation in the eyes of the potential buyer (your target audience).
With today’s social networking tools your simple “word” can travel around the world at the click of a mouse or the push of a button. This means that word-of-mouth advertising can now reach far off lands without any extra effort.
Where do I start?
It doesn’t take a huge contact list to strategically execute a solid social networking marketing plan. All you really need are a few friends and contacts who are willing to spread the word about your product or service. Chances are you are already using social networking tools to keep in touch with your friends and family. Start there. It is important to remember that your colleagues may have no idea that you have a product to market until you make it known.
A few tips to get started:
Don’t be shy. You can’t expect others to spread the word about your product if you won’t do so yourself. You can only be as successful as you will allow yourself to be.
Don’t be afraid to try cross-advertising. If you have a friend or colleague who is marketing their product through social media, try working together. Give their product a mention and have them do the same for you. You could double your exposure effortlessly.
Offer incentives. This is a great social marketing tactic because it benefits both sides. This is a common marketing plan used by people who sell products through home parties. When the invitations go out they include a line such as: “bring a friend to receive a free prize!” This social networking plan is not only simple but it could easily double the attendance of the party.
Marketing with social media or Social Media Marketing “levels the playing field” for entrepreneurs and small business owners providing them with the opportunity to market their products and services inexpensively. However, it is time-consuming. Outsource it to your Virtual Assistant, which will give you more time to focus on your clients and building your business.
When starting a virtual assistant business, the first item on your to do list is coming up with a business name. You should give this a lot of thought. The name you choose should reflect your products or services, because you will promote, brand and market your business under this name.
Next, decide on a niche. A niche market is a narrowly defined group of potential clients. In order to create effective advertising and/or marketing messages, you need to know who you are addressing.
One method of marketing is Internet marketing, also know as online marketing. Nowadays, because of the Internet and technology, Internet marketing is affordable and popular. Examples of Internet marketing are blogs, websites, article marketing, online networking, and e-mail marketing campaigns. For more detailed descriptions and examples of Internet marketing, click here for a copy of my e-book for only $3.98.
If you are considering starting a virtual assistant business, decide on a business name, choose a niche, as well as create and implement an Internet marketing plan.
We, as virtual assistants (VAs), generally attempt to grow our businesses by obtaining more clients. Another strategy is to grow your business by subcontracting or outsourcing projects to a team of VAs. These VAs’ services will complement your services rather than compete with them.
In an attempt to grow my virtual assistant business and deepen my service list, I organized a team of three VAs. My core services are word processing services and Internet marketing, and my team services include bookkeeping, transcription, and ghost writing. Their services complement my services. Now I can offer these services in addition to my current offerings. They are also my backup.
There are two different models of multi-virtual assistant (multi-VA) businesses, which outsource overflow of projects. One model is team and the other is subcontracting. The main difference is a team approach.
Multi-VA team businesses list the team members on their team web pages, but everything is under the umbrella of the multi-VA business owner. Team members also have direct contact with the clients. Whereas, with multi-VA subcontracting businesses, the subcontractors don’t have contact with the clients; although, they may be listed on your website. You, as the multi-VA business owner manage the clients and projects.
In both cases, subcontractors and team members/associates are VAs themselves and are at the beginning stages of their businesses or have room for more projects.
Due to the current economic situation, there will be more entrepreneurs and small business owners, and they will need virtual assistance. We probably will see more multi-VA businesses, both team and subcontracting models.
If you are Virtual Assistant and you want to grow your business, consider organizing a team of virtual assistants whose service offerings complement your services.
As an entrepreneur and small business owner, you’ve probably heard the term “Virtual Assistant (VA)” and know what it means. However, there are still misconceptions that exist. I’m going to attempt to clear that up in this blog post.
“A Virtual Assistant is a professional who specializes in providing administrative support and expertise,” says Danielle Keister of Virtual Assistant Chamber of Commerce in her blog post. To read more of Danielle’s post, click here. The business community is still conditioned to think of virtual assistants as administrative assistants. This type of thinking can devalue the true worth of a Virtual Assistant; therefore, potential clients tend to focus on the cost of the services rather than the value a VA can bring to the table.
Since VAs are professional entrepreneurs, they are quite versed in business operations, marketing, bookkeeping, etc. As Danielle points out in her blog post, a Virtual Assistant can help you move your business forward. This is a very valuable skill to any entrepreneur and small business owner.
The qualifications and skills that virtual assistants possess as a professional enable them to be experts in their fields, as well as in their profession as an entrepreneur. You receive more than administrative support, you have someone you can consult with, bounce ideas off of, brainstorm with, as well as utilize some of their business practices. If it works for your VA, it may work for you in your business.
These are just a few examples of the value your Virtual Assistant can bring to your business. The benefits you reap as an entrepreneur from this type of business relationship outweighs any fees that you may perceive as being expensive.
If you choose to work with offshore virtual assistants to save a few bucks, you will not receive this type of value-added service, mainly due to cultural differences.
I hope this helps clear up the misconceived notions that yet exist. Feel free to post your thoughts and comments.
An interesting discussion was started on Twitter as to what is niche. I have seen niche used to refer to a group of consumers with shared characteristics. I have also seen niche described as a specialized service(s); for example, internet marketing.
Ten years ago, when I was in college, niche was described as a space in the market where the advertiser’s product or service will fit. Merriam-Webster online dictionary definition is a place, employment, status, or activity for which a person or thing is best fitted. Although marketing and advertising concepts and theories remain the same, the methods of delivery of advertising messages have changed.
These changes apparently have changed or gave new meaning to the word “niche” where now it can refer to a specialized service. Join the discussion by posting your comment below as to what is niche to you. I look forward to reading your thoughts.
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When I was in college back in the 90’s earning my marketing degree, the focus was on marketing tangible products rather than on marketing services. As a result, my understanding of unique selling proposition (USP) was based on marketing a product. In this post, we will focus on your USP for marketing services as a service professional.
RJ’s Internet Marketing Services
As an entrepreneur and small business owner, you’ve probably heard the term “Virtual Assistant (VA)” and know what it means. However, there are still misconceptions that exist. I’m going to attempt to clear that up in this blog post.
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