Getting your business noticed can be challenging. To show your business stands head and shoulders above not only your smaller competitors but also the dominant players in your market, you need to differentiate yourself from the pack.

You may already be familiar with the concept of a “value proposition” — a fancy term for a short statement encapsulating why customers benefit from doing business with you. But even if you have one, it might not effectively differentiate you from your competitors or show the true value your business provides.

As a small business owner, you usually assume your value proposition should perform two key functions when it comes to the competition:

1. Show the value you provide that small competitors don’t.
2. Show the value you provide that large competitors don’t.

But, in reality, your value proposition should focus on just one thing: Showing the unique value you provide to your target customer. Period. (more…)

So you’ve spent a large amount of time and money creating and launching a great new product yet you’re still eagerly waiting to generate sales. You have high volumes of targeted traffic, plenty of fancy banner ads and you’ve done everything just right. Or have you?

How could it be that launching a high quality product that’s relevant to your audience, implementing a robust online marketing effort with heaps of hits, banners & text links posted all over the place -and still it’s only half the battle?

It might seem hard to believe after investing so much effort. This is not always the case in the world of online marketing and business but truth be told if you really want to seal the deal & sell your product, you may have to be more proactive and engage in actual conversations with potential new customers and clients. That means either talking on the phone, one-on- one emails or, dare I say it, in person. (more…)