How To Organize Words To Bring Businesses Gold with a Great Elevator Pitch
The value of a strong Unique Selling Position (or Proposition) and 30-second elevator pitch shouldn’t be underestimated. These are ital to a company’s initial success. They separate you from competitors in the mind of prospects. Of course if competition already has them in place, your business may have to play catch-up!
Here’s an example of a fictitious company to help sharpen clarity on this subject. Let’s pretend you are want to buy mustard. Obviously, you can find it in many places.
- Large chain grocery stores sell 80% of current market
- The neighborhood convenient food mart or gas station
- Specialty meat markets
- George’s
Speaking for myself, I’d get mustard (only as an example) from a familiar place where I’m in the habit of shopping.
Where would you choose and why? I’m guessing “George’s” would be your last choice, because you don’t know what George’s is – there’s no “Outside Perception”. Is it a dress shop? A donut shop? A gift shop? Who knows? Nothing against George, but we are all too busy to find out what “George’s” is!
For George to survive he must separate himself from competition. He could hire a marketing firm and lawyer spending $30,000 and months of time registering “Condiments R Us”, designing a new logo and changing his signs, labels, letterhead, aprons, etc. or for a fraction of the cost he could develop a USP in just a few carefully-chosen words. These explain the (hidden) Inside Reality of his business, letting the public know it through free listings and normal advertisements.
This information can then become George’s Outside Perception. Let’s create a USP so we know what George’s is.
Unique Selling Position or Proposition
“George’s” – Mustard For Health Conscious Connoisseurs
Elevator Pitch
Next, a short elevator pitch must be written separating “George’s Mustard” from the competition. (An elevator pitch is a short description of a company that can be delivered is a short amount of time – i.e. as an elevator travels between 2 floors or while waiting in a grocery line.)
Most are unaware that mustard found in grocery stores are grown using pesticides, then mixed during processing with preservation chemicals. In fact some jars found on shelves can be over 7-years old. Yes, the mustard your child eats may have been made, before he was born!
But George’s organically grown mustards have been hand-picked with in the past month, then selected for taste, color. Ground daily –using organically grown – no pesticides, no chemicals. George’s has the largest, healthiest, freshest, most tasty collection in the entire Midwest. Please stop by for a FREE sample of any of our 112 varieties from Swiss Mocha Dujon to Missouri Wine Poupon.
Evaluation
Think! Has your perception of George’s changed? What’s different? It’s the power of a strong USP and Elevator Pitch.
Conclusion
Possibly your company is one of the “George’s” of the world – laboring hard, but never quite able to break out. If you don’t currently have a strong, simple USP and/or an effective elevator pitch (2 minutes), take time to develop them, make them part of all your advertisements and all visual representations of your company. You may even teach them to all your employees, so they can more effectively tell people who they work for and actually become mobile advertisements.
For strong advice for business owners to help save money on advertising go to: http://everydaychristianfamily.com/4-traps-to-avoid-for-successful-ads/
