Positioning Marketing: Create Your Position Strategy—Uniqueness

Second-Level Uniqueness: Three Ways To Get To This Elusive Point

Sean D'Souza — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 20:14:53 +0000

No matter how good your positioning or uniqueness, it’s dead easy for the competition to take it away from you. Unless—unless you do something that takes the uniqueness to a whole new level.

You move from the first level to the second level
The first level is simply a feature or an adjective. E.g. If you said you’re the fastest pizza delivery, a competitor can take away that uniqueness in a flash. But what if you went to the second level?
Let’s find out what’s the second level and how to get there.

P.S. Introducing the Uniqueness Mastery Home Study
The Uniqueness Mastery Home Study is a precise system that enables you to get your product or service to stand out. And not just stand out in a garish, uncomfortable way, but in a manner where the customer knows exactly why they’re choosing you over the competition. It follows a system that that shows you how to get to your uniqueness. Find out more Uniqueness Mastery Home Study

The Biggest Mistake With Your Uniqueness

Sean D'Souza — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 03:32:19 +0000

You’d never guess it in a million years.
You’d think the biggest mistake would be made when you’re in the process of creating your uniqueness, right?

Um, no…
The biggest mistake is made right after. It’s the mistake of letting your uniqueness snuggle up and stay put in that nice warm bed. Cozy up? Snuggle up? What’s that got to with uniqueness mistakes?

After you finish creating your uniqueness, most of us believe we’ve done a splendid job. But having a great uniqueness is like having a great set of business cards. How will anyone know you’re unique, unless you get the word out? So why don’t people get the word out? Is it because they’re lazy? Far from it.

The truth is they don’t know how to get the word out
Well, they do know they can post the uniqueness on their business card and put it on their website, but that’s it. Ok, maybe you can use it in a presentation when you’re describing why your product or service is unique. But then you come to a cold stop.

And you shouldn’t.

Get that uniqueness out and get it to work. Watch the video. Then post your comments. 🙂

How To Make Your Uniqueness “Inedible”

Sean D'Souza — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 21:14:36 +0000

Imagine you sat down to eat a sandwich. And right in front of you were twenty three different types of ketchups.

Would you add them all in your sandwich?
Of course you wouldn’t, but the moment you get to uniqueness, that logical thought process goes out of the window. We all seem to forget that the word ‘unique’ means ONE. That your product can indeed do twenty things well, but you can’t drive home the point all at once. You are forced to sort out the one thing that is the most important.

So let’s say you were selling coffee
If you say: our coffee is unique because it helps you increase sales, do the rhumba, climb poles and do the Spiderman dance—I don’t care.

I want to hear why the coffee is unique:
– Because it comes from the heart of Bolivia

– Because monkeys harvest it.

– Because only 2% is available every year

– Because it’s the most bitter coffee in the world.

– Because you can roast it and it keeps for two weeks

– Because Tarzan drinks it

– Because it improves your sex life.

The way most uniqueness is written is this way:
Our coffee is unique because it comes from the heart of Bolivia, where monkeys harvest it, and therefore only 2% is available, because we only choose the most bitter coffees ever. And by the way, you can roast it and keep it for two weeks. Tarzan does it anyway, and it helps him swing trees better. It also improves his sex life and probably will do the same for yours.

If you say a ton of stuff, nothing gets across.

Say ONE thing and I get it.

Or in other words: Go easy on the ketchup!

P.S. So have you seen companies stuff their uniqueness? Have you done it yourself? Or do you have questions? Post below! 🙂

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Oh, and here’s a video about ‘stuffing’. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it!

The Power of Demonstrating Your Uniqueness

Sean D'Souza — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:05:34 +0000

There you are, running around like a nut, because your uniqueness is well, so unique.
It’s kinda what Leonardo da Vinci may have done when he drew pictures of the parachute.

But sometimes the uniqueness seems to be a bit ahead of its time
And when it seems that way, no one wants to believe you. Or even if it’s not ahead of its time, but just seems a bit unbelievable, you run into the same problem. For instance, a company in New Zealand makes clothing that doesn’t stink for 40 days. Yes, even if you’ve been in the hot sun all the time, perspiring away. Now that’s hard to prove isn’t it?

When you’re trying to position your uniqueness in your client’s brain, demonstration really helps.

Or let’s say you have invented a glass that stands up to tremendous battering?
Well, glass is fragile, isn’t it? So it’s hard to believe that glass won’t break. So hard, in fact, that you seem to be the butt of all jokes, rather than some genius. And that’s where demonstration comes into play. With demonstration, you can prove even the greatest skeptics wrong in seconds.

But better still, you’ve now made your uniqueness viral.
Anything that can be quickly proven by you, can in turn be quickly demonstrated to others. And so the message passes on like wildfire. But the question does remain: how will you demonstrate your uniqueness?

Do you have any ideas? Do you have examples of products that have demonstrated their uniqueness in the past? Let’s hear your comments.

Brand Positioning: Do You Need To Carve Out a Uniqueness For ‘Every’ Product or Service?

Sean D'Souza — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 05:05:36 +0000

It’s easy to say that every individual product or service needs a uniqueness of its own, but what if it doesn’t? How does it affect sales? How does it affect conversions?

Let’s take an example and move steadily ahead. Let’s examine The Brain Audit, for instance.

Did The Brain Audit, that’s been sold on the Psychotactics site since the year 2002, always have a uniqueness?
No it didn’t. When we started, we had no uniqueness at all. Quickly, of course, we got over 800 testimonials, and that became the uniqueness. Now admittedly, once you have 800 testimonials (which have now swelled to well over 1500, I’d expect) that’s good enough, isn’t it? Yes it is, provided the book didn’t change in any way.

Does every darned product and service need a uniqueness factor? Why on earth should that be the case?

But The Brain Audit went from Version 1.0 to 2.0—and then to Version 3.2
And this is where the problem lies. If a customer has bought Version 1.0, why bother buying Version 2.0? Or for that matter Version 3.2.? And what if we were to bring out Version 4.0? This is where uniqueness comes waltzing right through the door. Many, if not most of our clients have bought several versions of The Brain Audit. And the reason is simple: They can see why version differs from the next. And this difference is simply a factor of uniqueness.

When you define the uniqueness, you automatically get clients interested. And not just existing clients, but new ones as well.

Because it’s more than likely that the new ones have never seen The Brain Audit before
So for them the uniqueness is pitched against other books of a similar nature. Why should they spend their hard-earned money on this product vs. something else? Again uniqueness rears its um, unique head, huh?

And that’s not all…
Let’s say we did put out a version of The Brain Audit on Amazon.com. And that price, is just $39. And the product on the Psychotactics website is $119. Why would a client even bother buying it on our site if they can get it on Amazon at a third of the price? Here again we have the uniqueness come into play. If a client gets a ton more on our website vs. what’s available on Amazon (which is just the book and nothing but the book), then there’s a point of difference.

And now the difference in prices aren’t as crazy as they may seem. Of course your heart beats a little faster when paying a bit more, but you know—and know for sure—that the product you’re getting from Psychotactics is far greater in value than the Amazon product.

And just to prove that this works we actually gave away The Brain Audit…
Over 8000 people have downloaded a copy of The Brain Alchemy Masterclass absolutely free. And this Masterclass contains an early copy of The Brain Audit, both in text and audio. So what do people say on listening to the audio and text? I’ll tell you what they say. They write in and say: “I’ve loved The Brain Alchemy Masterclass, and I’m coming back to buy The Brain Audit and membership to 5000bc. So even when a product is given away free, people know there’s a difference—and a big difference—between one version and another. Between just an offering at Amazon.com and the one on the Psychotactics website. They know, because they’ve been told.

And that—that is the power of uniqueness.

When a thick, luscious layer of uniqueness is applied, price and reluctance retreat quickly
But you can’t just depend on the client to figure all of this out. So you have to clearly define the uniqueness. You have to be able to tell the difference between an iPhone 4 and an iPhone 4s. The Brain Audit Version 2.0 and The Brain Audit Version 3.2. The Amazon offering and the website offering. Because in reality, every product or every offering needs to really stand out from the “hoi-polloi” even if the “hoi-polloi” is just a different version of your very own product or service.

This takes time and effort
But mostly a deep understanding of the power of uniqueness. And how to master uniqueness, so you never have to fight the stupid “let’s lower our prices” battle. The more you learn, the more you can understand this deep and interesting facet of marketing. And the more clients will choose you over every one else.

And that is gratification by itself, isn’t it?
So what’s stopping you from creating uniqueness for every product or service? Do you have examples or questions on this topic? Ask away, because hey, I do answer (and sometimes even make a video just to answer the question).

Is Uniqueness Important At All?

Sean D'Souza — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 03:20:41 +0000

Most people aren’t quite sure.
I mean, uniqueness seems like a ‘nice-to-have’ factor. But is it critical?

Let’s take a simple example
Let’s say you’re in the market for an iPhone and price is no object (yes we’re assuming, so play along). And let’s say you have the choice between the iPhone 3 and the iPhone 4. Which one do you want? But let’s ramp it up a bit. Let’s say you have the choice between the iPhone 4 and the iPhone 4s? Now, which one do you want?

The choice isn’t much of a choice isn’t it?
Technically there’s not a lot to choose between an iPhone and an iPhone 4s. And yet there is. iPhone 4s has one thing—a uniqueness factor—that stands out like crazy. That uniqueness is a feature called ‘Siri’. For all practical reasons it makes no sense to upgrade/or buy a new phone, let alone an iPhone 4s. And yet that one factor pushes you precariously towards the edge.

But Siri doesn’t matter unless you know why it’s unique
I dictate all my emails using Siri. I could post this blog post, yup, using Siri. I don’t have to laboriously search for anything by scrolling, swiping or doing stuff I used to do with my old iPhone. I just speak. And Siri does it for me. Siri can’t cook yet, but it can do a ton of stuff.

And that Siri is the uniqueness. That’s the reason the iPhone 4s is selling millions of units.

Once a customer knows and understands the uniqueness, there’s no stopping them. They desperately want your product or service. And if they don’t buy it right now, they will buy it later. If done right, a uniqueness factor can have customers clamouring to buy.

And that’s only half the reason to have a factor of uniqueness
The other half is just noise. You have your product or service, but right alongside you there are twenty squillion products or services that kinda look a bit like yours. The noise in the marketplace is deafening and unless you can clearly state your uniqueness, your customer is simply not convinced. They nod appreciatively when you explain your features and benefits, but they don’t buy.

But do they really avoid the purchase?
No, they do buy. They just don’t buy from YOU. They bypass you, because you’ve not clearly demonstrated your uniqueness. Yet, the moment they buy from you, they turn from customers to evangelists. Once they understand why your product or service is different, not only do they become rabid customers, but they spread the word as well. And that’s really the power of uniqueness.

You can pretend it doesn’t matter as much.
You can fool yourself into believing your product or service will sell itself.
And yet look around you. Look at the products you buy everyday. Why do you buy those specific brand of shoes? Why did you buy that book from Amazon.com? Why do you fill your gas at this gas station instead of another one? All of the answers point to uniqueness. Once you figure it out, you’ll wonder how you could live without it.

How have you seen uniqueness change things for a product or service? Or even a business? Do you have some examples you could share?

Brand Positioning: Why The Right Uniqueness Is Built On A “DNA”

Sean D'Souza — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 20:42:04 +0000

Most of us think up a uniqueness or brand positioning and then worry about one thing: that the uniqueness will quickly get obsolete.

And it’s true—your uniqueness will quickly get obsolete if all it’s really doing is trying to be the ‘flavour of the month’. Or you could create a DNA factor.

So what is the DNA when it comes to positioning?
Let’s suppose you’re a teleconference company. And you say that your equipment is so darned good that a conference like being in the ‘room next door’. Now what does that mean? Sure it means that your equipment is the latest and the greatest. But that can quickly become obsolete, right? It’s easy enough for other companies to do the same. And pretty darned soon everyone has the very same equipment. And boof, your uniqueness is shot to hell.

Your brand positioning can’t just depend on some marketing campaign. It needs to work off a DNA.

Oh no it isn’t!
Your uniqueness is only in trouble if you use it casually—like a marketing slogan. But if it becomes your DNA—ah, now you’re so focused on ‘room next door’ that you do everything you possibly can to recreate that experience for your customer. You may, for instance, require your customer to go through some training to get the best sound quality from the teleconference.

You may post videos and information on ‘Why teleconference sound is crappy—and how to avoid it’. You may have teleseminars or teleconferences that treat all the other features as nice-to-have, but focus solely on getting absolutely stunning sound. And you may have recording systems that record high quality sound. In short, the whole fixation of your company will be with sound, sound, sound and yes, sound!

You stop focusing on every feature and build your DNA around the clarity of the call.
That’s when you get to be known for one thing. But more importantly, everyone in your organisation is um, crystal clear why the company exists; why they exist; and what’s their mission. This clarity goes out to the audience and they in turn decide not just to choose you for your nice slogan, but because you spend your days and nights living to create great sound.

Audiences are smart. They can figure out when you’re just running some stupid slogan. And when you live, breathe, eat and drink your uniqueness.

Bon appetit! 🙂

So do you have questions about DNA? Or examples of products or services with a strong DNA?

What Good Is Uniqueness If A Competitor Can Easily Copy It?

Sean D'Souza — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 02:05:04 +0000

Positioning your brand may be a tough exercise. However what’s tougher is defending your position. Because the moment you have a great positioning statement or a great uniqueness, it’s likely that your competition is waiting to take it off you.

So how do you stop them?
It’s a free country, and probably a free world, so you can’t really stop anybody. However, you can make it very hard for them to copy your factor of uniqueness. And the way to do this is to have a second level uniqueness factor in place.

But wait, what’s a top level factor of uniqueness?
The first or top level of uniqueness is simply when you state your adjective, whatever that might be. So when you come with an adjective like grumpy, pedantic, tough, safe, you have won half the battle. Because now you are able to describe your product or service almost in a single word. Or at least a single phrase.

But this isn’t going to help you very much if the competition decides to step in…
But let’s assume your competition isn’t so nasty. Do you still have to have a second-level of uniqueness? Of course you do. The average customer is bombarded with so much information, that they find it difficult to distinguish between the uniqueness of one brand vs. the other. When there’s a clear second-level of uniqueness, they know exactly why they should choose you, because you’ve given them the exact phrase or term that stands out from the rest of the pack.

So what’s the second level uniqueness?
The second level of uniqueness is where you add a certain factor that simply cannot be copied. So for instance, we have the Article Writing Course. The Article Writing Course is called the ‘toughest’ in the world. Easy to copy, huh? Yes indeed.

But we slammed in a second-level: We called it ‘baby-toughness’
This means that it’s not dog level toughness, or cat level, but it’s as crazy as having a new born in the house. You don’t get any sleep at all for a long, long time. Now sure, you can come along and try to copy that factor of uniqueness, but you’ll struggle because now everyone recognises that second-level uniqueness as belonging to Psychotactics—and not to you.

Which is why Dominos got so busy so quickly
They were just another pizza company. They too had a first level of uniqueness. It was a factor of speed. But they tossed in a second level. They said “30 Minutes or it’s free”. Now that became super-hard to copy. That uniqueness belonged to Dominos, and Dominos alone. It would be hard, even impossible to copy it without making an utter fool of your own company.

So how do you get to this second-level of uniqueness?
Can you compare your product or service with something else? Does an image spring to mind? If so, you are now moving down the road to the second-level of uniqueness. A level that is hard to copy.

But what if you can’t get figure out how to get to the second-level at all?
You may try really hard to get to the second level of uniqueness, and not make much headway. And technically speaking, that’s not a problem at this stage (and that’s because the follow-up video will tell you just how to do it).

But there’s another reason as well. When we started out with several of our products and services, we didn’t really know what the second level of uniqueness was right at the start. But we describe our products and services to clients, and then something would either pop out off our own mouth, or the client would say something that instantly got our attention.

That’s how we got to “baby-tough”
We didn’t think of it at first, but the client came up with that concept. And so we just slapped it on our uniqueness. And that’s what you should do as well, because if you try to do it all at one go it’s too stressful. Start with getting to your first level of uniqueness, and let it sit with you a while. At some point in time, the second level of uniqueness will show up.

Coming Next: Second Level Uniqueness

How To Get To Uniqueness: Three Yummy Goodies

Sean D'Souza — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 00:29:38 +0000

Everybody loves goodies, don’t they?
And more so, when the goodies are extremely rare.

And it’s rare to find a book or a course that explains uniqueness clearly—if at all.
Everyone tells you that uniqueness is important, but no one tells you how to work through the uniqueness minefield.

Until now, that is…
Your understanding of uniqueness will change dramatically after you watch these detailed videos. And this is just the start of a 8-12 week (yes, week) bonanza on uniqueness and how to get there. So feast on these goodies that are to come.

About the videos below: Watch them a few times because there’s a tremendous amount of information—and well presented too (It took me a week just to create this set of videos—and I’m quick)! And yes, get some paper—you’re going to need to make notes. A cup of coffee or tea will help too 🙂

Have fun!
P.S. Post your comments or questions on the blog itself. And yes, if you do watch this on YouTube, do post your comments there too. I would really appreciate it.

Part One: Getting to uniqueness.

Part Two: Getting to uniqueness

Part Three: Uniqueness mistakes and how to avoid them

So there you go. Watch these videos. And post your comments! I’m looking forward to what you have to say and the questions you have to ask.