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Guest post by: Catherine Kaputa Become an Author

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How to Identify Your “Big Idea”

that Differentiates You Business from Everyone Else

By Catherine Kaputa

Marketers are always searching for a “Big Idea” for their brands – a creative idea that conveys a unique selling proposition (USP) for their brand and drives sales.

Above all, you should build your business identity around something authentic. Copying is imitation, and won’t help you differentiate yourself in a competitive marketplace. When you don’t differentiate your business, people don’t have a reason to choose you, as my client Lauren found out. A marketing executive who had a strong twenty-year background at marketing services company, she had gone out on her own with her own marketing consulting business. Lauren had a marketing brochure but no different idea about herself and her business. After I read her marketing brochure and website copy, all I could think of was” marketing person for all types of companies and situations.”

A lot of entrepreneurs make this mistake. They want to appeal to everyone so they won’t miss any opportunities. But the opposite usually occurs. They don’t attract anyone because there is no different idea – no memorable brand promise that gives people a reason to choose them.

So how do you find your different idea? Begin by developing a brand hypothesis for yourself. Tap into your gut. What does your intuition tell you about your business? Often the best ideas and strategies come through brainstorming and hypothesizing before we do any research. The initial hypothesis is a technique some management consultants use with great success.

Management consultants put together a diverse team to work on a project. You can do the same. Choose people you think are insightful, but mix it up so you have both people with hard and soft thinking skills. Here are some questions. What’s different, special, unusual about the company (or a specific product)? If you were my agent, where would you take the company in five years? What are my key attributes that differentiate us from others? What one trait stands out? What do we do especially well? How could I build on my strengths? What should I be doing to make meaning in the world? What is the key piece of advice you would give me? What opportunities should I capitalize on?

Then, start observing what people say about you in business. As the great Yogi Berra said, “You can observe a lot just by watching.” What do your clients and colleague say about you and your approach? What are you enthusiastic about at work? Then, look at people around you in your company, then in your industry, then in business in general. What are their strong attributes? What makes them special?

The rule for brainstorming in developing your Big Idea is “No idea is a bad idea.” Censoring will cause you to shut down your creative juices. It often happens that a so-called dumb idea spurs you to think of ways to debunk it. And that will help you sharpen your focus.

It’s smart to put your “big idea” into words, a crisp positioning statement that defines your USP – what’s different and special about your business in comparison to others and why it matters. Do it in a conversational style but above all be memorable and tell a story about yourself. For example, you can use analogy. Try to put two different ideas together to express your big idea, such as I’m a cross between ________ and ________. For example, Tazo tea defined its big idea as “Marco Polot meets Merlin.”

Catherine Kaputa is a brand strategist and author of U R a BRAND! How Smart People Brand Themselves for Business Success (www.urabrand.com). She is founder of SelfBrand, a brand consultancy that works with companies, products, and individuals (www.catherinekaputa.com). Visit www.selfbrand.com for self branding tips.

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