Are you virtually indistinguishable from your competition?
STOP!
From this day forward, it’s important to be “tremendously specific” when describing your products or services. It’s a copywriting tactic I call using “Extreme Specificity,“ and I discuss it in detail in Cashvertising, page 106.
To illustrate this point, consider an experiment where I called 25 local pizza shops at random and asked,
“Hello, I’m coming in with 10 friends this Saturday. I want to come to your place, but one of the guys wants to go to another pizzeria. Help me convince the group; what makes your pizza better?”
The first response, from a pizza shop, was, “Uhhh…I don’t know. That’s for YOU to decide!”
(Yeah, really!)
What a horrible response! The guy had the opportunity to distinguish his restaurant from the rest… a chance to win over 10 possibly new customers.
He failed miserably.
The second call to another shop produced another crappy response: “We use better ingredients.”
Ugh.
This response does nothing to create positive images in the mind or give reasons to desire HIS pizza.
The third response was, “Better quality. Our sauce and flour are from Italy.”
This response is an improvement as it specifies which ingredients are used, and that they are Italian, making the pizza sound better than those made with flour and cheese from somewhere in the Bronx.
However, the response could have been even better if more details were provided, such as the type of cheese used and how it is prepared… the type of flour and why it’s better for making a fabulous crust… and the process of making the all-important pizza sauce.
The guy could have also highlighted other unique features such as:
… Using hand-sliced fresh meats and vegetables.
… Growing and using beautiful fresh herbs like oregano and basil from their own garden.
… Having a gorgeous, recently renovated dining room with comfortable seating and floors… soft lighting… and beautiful Italian tile.
… Or boasting a history of handcrafting pizza for four generations.
By providing specific and descriptive information, the shop can differentiate itself from the competition… win new customers… and leave a lasting impression on current patrons.
How about YOU? DO you differentiate yourself from YOUR competition? If not, why not? Your prospects are comparing. Give them concrete reasons to PREFER YOU!
Need help with this? Contact me.
STOP!
From this day forward, it’s important to be “tremendously specific” when describing your products or services. It’s a copywriting tactic I call using “Extreme Specificity,“ and I discuss it in detail in Cashvertising, page 106.
To illustrate this point, consider an experiment where I called 25 local pizza shops at random and asked,
“Hello, I’m coming in with 10 friends this Saturday. I want to come to your place, but one of the guys wants to go to another pizzeria. Help me convince the group; what makes your pizza better?”
The first response, from a pizza shop, was, “Uhhh…I don’t know. That’s for YOU to decide!”
(Yeah, really!)
What a horrible response! The guy had the opportunity to distinguish his restaurant from the rest… a chance to win over 10 possibly new customers.
He failed miserably.
The second call to another shop produced another crappy response: “We use better ingredients.”
Ugh.
This response does nothing to create positive images in the mind or give reasons to desire HIS pizza.
The third response was, “Better quality. Our sauce and flour are from Italy.”
This response is an improvement as it specifies which ingredients are used, and that they are Italian, making the pizza sound better than those made with flour and cheese from somewhere in the Bronx.
However, the response could have been even better if more details were provided, such as the type of cheese used and how it is prepared… the type of flour and why it’s better for making a fabulous crust… and the process of making the all-important pizza sauce.
The guy could have also highlighted other unique features such as:
… Using hand-sliced fresh meats and vegetables.
… Growing and using beautiful fresh herbs like oregano and basil from their own garden.
… Having a gorgeous, recently renovated dining room with comfortable seating and floors… soft lighting… and beautiful Italian tile.
… Or boasting a history of handcrafting pizza for four generations.
By providing specific and descriptive information, the shop can differentiate itself from the competition… win new customers… and leave a lasting impression on current patrons.
How about YOU? DO you differentiate yourself from YOUR competition? If not, why not? Your prospects are comparing. Give them concrete reasons to PREFER YOU!
Need help with this? Contact me.