One of the war cries that business people hear again and again from marketers is the need to adopt a differentiation strategy as one of the most critical things that they are able to do to be able to have an advantage over their competitors. This is just a business strategy where a company attempts to gain a competitive advantage by giving a unique service or product or unique brand.
Simple right? Well, not so fast. The piece that’s often missing or not communicated too is the fact that for any differentiation technique to work, it not just has to be different, however it should be valued or useful to your clients or target market. It will little great for a business to go to market with a different product or perhaps a different kind of service if that service or product isn’t useful, beneficial or valued in some way because of your clients and target market.
When working with business owners, I usually begin by creating a strategic plan before implementing a tactical plan. Among the important elements in the process of creating a strategy includes creating a differentiation strategy. In some instances, a company may be providing a distinctive service or product however they aren’t doing a good job of communicating this to the outside world in order to their clients and prospects, so their business looks just like their competitors. Other times, it’s necessary to figure out what the core competencies and strengths of a company are and then produce a strategy that is different, useful and valued through the target market.
But, before the process of determining a differentiation strategy can take place, it is critical to find out whether what we should are thinking of adopting, is useful and valued through the target we’re trying to attract. And the easiest way to get this done is to get out there and ask your visitors and prospects about what they would find valuable, useful and in many cases which kind of innovations they would be prepared a larger investment to receive.
Here’s an interesting twist towards the differentiation strategy story. Sometimes for an organization to be various and valued, they merely need to change or stop doing something that their competitors are doing, but is really a source of frustration using their target market. A great illustration of a business changing the guidelines from the game is the differentiation strategy adopted by cell phone provider, Metro PCS. After identifying the common frustrations many cell phone users were experiencing with their mobile phone providers, Metro PCS adopted the differentiation means of providing a no contract, no activation fee, low unlimited monthly plan to their customers. In the process, they’ve began to obtain the “big” boys to take notice and adjust some of their offerings.
Here is a handful of questions you are able to ask your customers to find out in case your differentiation thoughts have “legs”:
* What are the biggest frustrations you’ve when you are performing business with (your industry)?
* We’re considering offering (a proposed innovation). Would which make a positive change to you?
* Would you be willing to pay more for (the proposed innovation)?
* What problems would you like to see solved in this industry?
The answers you obtain to these questions can help you determine whether your assumptions are valued and useful to your customers and prospects.