How to make your product offering better in 2016

When you’re looking to build a better business, a great product or service is the best growth hack there is.

Marketing gets easy because the evidence (testimonials, awards, reviews) give new customers all the confidence they need to pick you. Better still, when you have a great product you don’t have to do all of your marketing yourself – your customers do it for you.

The problem is there are so many different ways to improve your service or product offering.

You can include more features, more options, make it cheaper, add a bonus, add a guarantee, deliver it faster, higher quality, make it shinier, better packaging, and more.

But Mike Michalowicz, author of The Pumpkin Plan recently gave me my biggest aha moment of 2015. He said this:

To improve your product, you need to
make it more obvious what to say about it.

In other words:

1. Decide (or remind yourself) what one thing is unique or different about your service or product.
2. Take this aspect to an extreme level and (if possible) further than anyone else ever has.

If your key benefit is that your product is organic, how could you make it the most organic? If fast service sets you apart, how could you organise your business to prioritise speed? If you are known for your bold designs, could you claim the #1 spot by seeking out the boldest clients this year?

Big wins come easier

The beauty of this method is:

1. You make it extremely easy for people to tell their friends about you, because they know exactly what to say.
2. You’ll never again have trouble settling on a business name. Or a tagline for your business card or website.

Want more articles like this? Check out the business marketing section.

Some examples

Let’s say you’re a courier and your thing is speed. Every page on your website can talk about speed.

• Location – we’re in every city to get your packages delivered faster.
• Opening hours – we’re open longer so there is more time each day for your packages to be delivered.
• Package types – we offer only two set package types. Minimal sorting at our depot is one of the ways we (you guessed it) get your packages out the door faster.

Are you a plumber that promises to be on time?

• We have mobile plumbers in every suburb of Brisbane so we’re always close by.
• Our state-of-the-art tracking system means we have the best managed fleet of vans in Australia.
• Guarantee – we give you $50 if we’re late.

Your marketing becomes dangerously potent when it reinforces one key message over and over. Your customers will never have to think twice about why they should choose you.

How it makes life easier

• When someone asks you what you do, you know what to say.
• When you’re designing your business card, you know what it will say.
• When someone calls about your service, you know what to tell them.
• And when you want to improve your product, you know what to do.

Pretty powerful right?

So that’s what I’ll be working on this year. How will you improve your product or service in 2016?