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 How to ...
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How to ...
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... identify features that differentiate your firm.
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| Features are prominent attributes that characterize a product or service, such as a touch screen on a phone or red color on a billiard ball. Services or products without prominent features are commodities, like white billiard balls.  Much of the work designers do is standardized because of the many codes, guidelines, regulations, etc., to which the work must conform. But when something becomes a commodity – interchangeable and indistinguishable from other options – then buyers choose on price – the low price. Instead, the goal of marketing is to differentiate your service from others so as to achieve pricing above commodity levels. In fact this is the very purpose of marketing. If you are willing to be the low price option in all cases, eliminate your marketing function because whatever it costs is too much. Here are examples of differentiating features in the design profession:
- Unique experience with an agency, a technology, a problem, etc. that gives your firm knowledge not possessed by others.
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| - Available capacity for a project compared to competitors who are busy
- Geographic proximity to the client’s office(s) or the project site(s) compared to a competitors locations.
First, notice that all these are in comparison to the characteristics of competitors. One of the biggest flaws in marketing professional services is chauvinistic pride in capabilities that, in reality, are common to all firms. CAD systems are a good example. When they were first introduced, the ability to create electronic drawings was special, and reflected an investment in equipment and training that not all firms were willing to make. Not so today; this former differentiator has become a commodity. Making the claim that your firm should be chosen because of its hardware or software generally undermines the credibility of your proposal or presentation.
Next, differentiating factors must be claimed, then documented. Without a claim the prospect never learns about your feature. Without documentation, the claim is what the law calls “puffery” – empty rhetoric on which no reasonable person places any reliance or credibility.
Finally, differentiating features must produce a benefit for a client. Otherwise, they are curiosities. Follow the link at the left for a “How To” on client benefits.
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... identify features that differentiate your firm.
|
| Features are prominent attributes that characterize a product or service, such as a touch screen on a phone or red color on a billiard ball. Services or products without prominent features are commodities, like white billiard balls.  Much of the work designers do is standardized because of the many codes, guidelines, regulations, etc., to which the work must conform. But when something becomes a commodity – interchangeable and indistinguishable from other options – then buyers choose on price – the low price. Instead, the goal of marketing is to differentiate your service from others so as to achieve pricing above commodity levels. In fact this is the very purpose of marketing. If you are willing to be the low price option in all cases, eliminate your marketing function because whatever it costs is too much. Here are examples of differentiating features in the design profession:
- Unique experience with an agency, a technology, a problem, etc. that gives your firm knowledge not possessed by others.
|
|
| - Available capacity for a project compared to competitors who are busy
- Geographic proximity to the client’s office(s) or the project site(s) compared to a competitors locations.
First, notice that all these are in comparison to the characteristics of competitors. One of the biggest flaws in marketing professional services is chauvinistic pride in capabilities that, in reality, are common to all firms. CAD systems are a good example. When they were first introduced, the ability to create electronic drawings was special, and reflected an investment in equipment and training that not all firms were willing to make. Not so today; this former differentiator has become a commodity. Making the claim that your firm should be chosen because of its hardware or software generally undermines the credibility of your proposal or presentation.
Next, differentiating factors must be claimed, then documented. Without a claim the prospect never learns about your feature. Without documentation, the claim is what the law calls “puffery” – empty rhetoric on which no reasonable person places any reliance or credibility.
Finally, differentiating features must produce a benefit for a client. Otherwise, they are curiosities. Follow the link at the left for a “How To” on client benefits.
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