It’s NO joke, businesses are dying because they conduct what I call, ‘Vanilla Marketing’.
What is Vanilla Marketing?
Vanilla marketing is doing what everyone else is doing. Doing the same style of advertising and marketing that everyone else does.
For example, if I search for builders, lawyers or accountants, everyone seems to have the same message and does the same thing.
They even advertise in the same places!
It seems like whoever has the biggest marketing budget or the lowest price seems to win.
So unless you have the biggest marketing budget or the lowest price (and can deliver that at a profit) then I wouldn’t suggest you conduct Vanilla marketing.
Here’s a typical Vanilla marketing ad:
Professional Accounting Services.
Tax consulting and advice since 1990
From $100/mth. Enquire Today!
If you look down the page, everyone is advertising the same old stuff with the same old message.
Why do people do Vanilla Marketing?
Either they have bad marketing advice or they want to conform to be the nice guy or gal. Or maybe they are just plain lazy to be creative.
But more often than not, the root of the problem is their business does not have a USP. There is no unique selling proposition.
For those of you who haven’t heard of this USP term, it simply means how you provide value to customers in a way that’s different from your competitors.
It bears repeating, Vanilla Marketing will ruin your business, and having a USP is the magic pill to cure Vanilla Marketing!
A radical, powerful USPs can transform your business.
A radical, powerful USP is needed to take you to the top of your market.
For example. Domino’s Pizza’s USP, ‘We guarantee your pizza in 30 minutes or less’ helped them to go from a local struggling Pizza joint to the #1 Pizza chain in the world.
FedEx’s ‘When you absolutely, positively need it delivered overnight’ made them the market leader in the courier industry globally.
BMW’s has the USP is the ‘ultimate driving machine’ which prompts young status-conscious professionals to choose BMW over other cars, as it promises ‘better engineering’ for its cars.
Once you have decided a USP, then it comes to your offerings…are you offering something that everyone else is? If you are then I suggest you’ll need to change your offering quickly.
A famous dentist in Australia offers pain-free dental treatment. In fact guarantees it! He only accepts business by referrals and he is booked way ahead of schedule.
While you are getting your teeth cleaned in a pain free way, you can smell bagels being baked. When you complete your treatment you get a fresh bagel to take home.
Is your business offering anything that makes you stand out? Are you being unique and radical in a way that customers will love you, speak about you and keep coming back to you?
If not, it’s time to put on your thinking cap.
The good news is most businesses don’t have a USP, the bad news is that it can take months, even years to come up with a powerful USP.
And sometimes even that USP can be eroded over time with competition, that’s when you need to evolve. But if you don’t have a USP, you are never going to be a market leader or make extraordinary profits.
So let’s address the big white elephant in the room here, some of you are probably saying, “It’s easy to give examples, but how are you doing it yourself?”
Here’s my USP:
‘I empower and expand entrepreneurs on a personal level to make their marketing radical and more effective.’
I actually work with the entrepreneur on their personal stuff that’s stopping their business from growing. That’s the foundation for the rest of my work because from experience that’s where we can get a quantum leap in marketing results!
Then, I back this USP with a guarantee.
My 100% Positive Return Investment Guarantee: ‘If I can’t help you get the results we agree on, you don’t pay me anything until I do’.
Remember, your USP can be enhanced with a guarantee so that it is tangible.
In conclusion, let me leave you with a question: Why should people buy from you instead of someone else?
If you can answer this question in a compelling way, you are on the path to amazing success.
Your Turn: please share your thoughts on vanilla marketing and your USP!
