Every product or service should have ‘uniqueness.’ It is something, without which your business will not survive. Moreover, you must have heard about USP. It is a unique selling point. It is a strong determiner when it comes to prospects accepting your products and services. It will make your business, the only one of its kind in the market. Make it your competitive advantage. So, a unique business starts with a unique business idea.
What sets you apart can sometimes feel like a burden and it’s not. And a lot of the time, it’s what makes you great.” — Emma Stone
Value Creation is also important for a product or service to grow. It means, value for the business, for the customers, and for the employees as well. It isn’t just profitability. Most investors want more than just profits. If you have a small business, it can be of great use to you.
How to make your offering unique?
A unique business idea includes three things why, what, and how. We should always start with a ‘Why’ as it will give us the answer to the primary question of ‘Why are we even in business?’, without which it’s almost impossible to thrive in the long run. What you offer is also important. Moreover, entrepreneurs forget about the ‘what to sell’. So, you have to concentrate on that. It can make a huge difference. You can make your product and service stand out. Ensure to follow these:
- Create value for your customers and stakeholders, communicate the same with all of them.
- Give complete clarity on your offerings.
- Deliver those values as promised.
- Get feedback.
- Reward customer loyalty.
However, if you are not the first to offer such products or services, then what makes you stand out?
Creating Value for your customers:
Understand what drives your customers not from the feedback of ‘Focus Groups’, but by internal research. Identify the customer segments and target markets. Different customers have a different set of values. It may be geographic, or product or service-wise. Moreover, you have to set a price based on the value proposition that satisfies the category. So we can refer to value creation as one of the success points for your business.
Which is more important?
In an ideal scenario, a perfect blend of both Uniqueness and Value Creation are important to achieve long term success. If we draw a 2 by 2 matrix having Uniqueness on the vertical axis and Value Creation on the horizontal axis we can see that there are 4 scenarios which are possible. 1. High on Uniqueness and low in Value Creation. 2. High on Value Creation and low on Uniqueness. 3. High on Uniqueness and Value Creation. 4. Low on Uniqueness and Value Creation.
On the first scenario we may or may not be successful as the product or service would be too niche. Given the second scenario we have to seriously compete in terms of price as there would be a severe pressure from competition. As per the third scenario goes, it looks like to be a perfect sweet spot as success is almost guaranteed and both the required matrix are high. Finally, in the fourth scenario the business would not sustain and the model is flawed as both the matrix fail to add value to anyone in the society.
Some Key Takeaways
- Always start with a ‘WHY’
- Provide complete clarity on Value Offerings
- ‘Uniqueness’ is one of the strongest drivers for long term sustenance
Therefore to conclude both the elements of Uniqueness and Value Creation are required in the right blend to achieve success. We can still live with slightly more Value Creation than that of Uniqueness in the short run by providing price off’s and other incentives, but in the long run it’s quite impossible to sustain without Uniqueness and innovation.
