Drowning in a sea of competition?
If so, it’s time to ask – what makes your business different?
When I first studied marketing, I remember learning all the fancy terms that explained the idea that businesses should be different from each other.
Differentiation
Market Positioning
Unique Selling Proposition
But rather than wading through text books to answer the ‘what makes your business different question’, you might like to take a shortcut I’ve found.
The shortcut is to create an onliness (only-ness) statement for your business.
The onliness statement is the brain-child of branding guru Marty Neumeier (fancy name, must be smart) and there are 6 ingredients:
1. What (category are you in)
2. How (you have a point of difference)
3. Who (are your audience)
4. Where (are your customers)
5. Why (your customers need you)
6. When (the underlying trend)
And when combined, these ingredients provide a recipe for being different.
Here’s an example of an onliness statement in action (see if you can guess the brand)
The only motorcycle manufacturer [what]
That makes big, loud motorcycles [how]
For macho guys and macho wanna-bee’s [who]
Mostly in the United States [where]
Who want to join a gang of cowboys [why]
In an era of decreasing personal freedom [when]
Could an onliness statement help your prospects ‘spot the difference’?
And what would your onliness statement be?
I’m no branding expert. And I don’t have all the answers, but I quite like this simple approach.
