There is a reason there is a whole supermarket aisle dedicated to chocolate.
It because we all have different tastes. And if we didn’t have different tastes 10 years ago, the chocolate industry has convinced us that we do! Chocolate is bought for a variety of reasons: just because it was looking at me; because I want to spoil myself, I need a midday energy boost, I like the taste, for a gift, as a bribe and it’s good for you! We all have our own excuse, I mean reason, for buying chocolate and there is a chocolate dedicated to satisfying all of our differing needs.
We can learn a number of things from the chocolate industry. 1) You need to have a strong USP (Unique Selling Proposition). 2) Your USP has to matter to your target audience.
To successfully enter a market with a new product you need to provide something different from all of your competitors. This USP doesn’t have to be extraordinary ( it could be), but it has to be compelling enough to convince your target market to buy from you rather than someone else. Let’s face it the same chocolate with a different shape or different package and a different price can appeal to different target markets!
It is easy to enter a market with something unique as the opportunity is there for you to grow the industry ‘pie’. Try and steal a piece of the industry ‘pie’ from someone else because you are closely aligned to their products or services and you are going to have more of a battle on your hands.
Getting your USP right is a challenge for many small business, but it is critical to success and helps frame your entire marketing program. What is your USP?