How to Stand Out from the Crowd as a Solopreneur
When you're in a competitive field, the way to make it is to differentiate yourself from the competition. This is called a "Unique Value Proposition" (UVP). So, how do you use the business world's UVP concept for personal branding?
Personal branding for solopreneurs: What is a Unique Value Proposition (UVP)?
The first step is to find out what your UVP is. Ask yourself:
What benefits do you offer?
How do you solve your customer's problems?
What makes you different from your competition?
Great value propositions focus on the audience and a solution to their problems! The uniqueness of your value proposition is what makes you stand out among the competition. As a solopreneur, this is a cornerstone of your branding.
To stand out, you need to think about
whom you want to attract as a client
what irks them
and how you can make their lives easier with what you do
Example of a business UVP
This is a screenshot from Freshbooks.com, the providers of a cloud accounting software
"Small business accounting software designed for you."
This statement clarifies that their business is focused on small businesses and solopreneurs - people who often don't have a team or separate departments. They need something that is simple and can do everything for them.
Freshbooks solves your problems:
You are time-strapped and
not an accountant, not a numbers person.
They make it simple for you!
What does this mean for your branding?
Let's make a list:
Look back at your career. What was unique?
Do you have experiences that your competition doesn't?
Do you serve a unique audience?
Do you solve a problem differently than your competition?
Do you work differently than other people?
Let's take me as an example:
I worked as a one-person marketing department for five companies at once.
This is not something everyone can say. It means that I can
streamline marketing
work with several different companies at one time without losing track of things
This makes me different!
I have 12+ years of marketing experience + a Master's Degree in Writing.
From what I hear, this is not a common thing. When I talk to prospective clients, they often say: "You either get a marketing person or a copywriter."
But with my background, they get both!
I use technology and strategic outsourcing to scale with a small budget.
Because of my experience as a one-person marketing department, I needed to automate as much as I can and streamline. So I use technology and strategic outsourcing to scale with a small budget.
If you can't offer anything like that to make you a little bit different, you can work differently and work with your clients differently to make it easier.
When a business is working with a consultant, it's because they don't have the budget for a big agency or don't have the time to work with someone who requires much hands-on time. That is why they need someone who can streamline the process of working with someone else.
So come up with a process that makes it easier for people to work with you.
I work in 2-week sprints and a flat fee, making deliverables and costs transparent.
This means my clients know how much they are spending and what they get for their money every two weeks.
The statement
Now, make your list and put it in the form of a statement. In marketing, we often call this your "elevator pitch."
This is mine:
"Sarah Noel Block works with time-strapped marketers and business owners to build high-impact marketing without increasing headcount. She uses her tested and proven framework to streamline content marketing, social media, and email marketing through smart systems. Optimize your marketing with Tiny Marketing. Learn more at sarahnoelblock.com."
I have just taken a few elements of my list to create my statement - the things that I thought would have the biggest "BANG," i.e., affect my clients the most.
This does not mean that I am ignoring the rest! I talk about the rest during my discovery calls or at networking events. They are my bonus selling points!
Speaking of discovery calls: Do you have any questions about my services and what I can do to solve your marketing problems? Let's talk!
