Today, my brother Sean emailed me to ask what I thought about a new business he’s considering–baking & selling all-natural dog biscuits.
He loves dogs, has worked with dogs, and last year, purchased a dog biscuit recipe book and began experimenting with different ingredients & focusing on all-natural biscuits inspired by his own dog Aidan’s food sensitivities & skin troubles.
So I Googled “all natural dog biscuits” and came up with 303,000 results. Clearly, there are already a lot of all natural dog biscuits on the market.
Does this mean Sean shouldn’t give it a try?
No, it just means that he’ll have to go into the venture knowing exactly what his point of difference will be. In a nutshell, point of difference is the way in which your product differs from a competitive product.
Wikipedia says that “because of an overwhelming variety of products and services on the market, those that stand out in some manner are better noticed by consumers. There are various (positive and negative) ways of being different compared to competitors in the same market. Differentiation is the term given to the positive way in which a company’s product differs from its competitors. Points of difference (PODs) describe the individual factors of differentiation.”
Point of difference is an important consideration if you sell a product that has serious competition, as in my brother’s case. Some points of difference that Sean can weigh are:
- Price
- Variety
- Features (all natural, exotic ingredients)
- Benefits (eases indigestion, aides weight loss)
- Availability (number of stores that sell his biscuits)
- Convenience (free shipping, auto replenishment)
- Customer service (assistance in purchasing, gift wrapping)
This afternoon, I received an order from Sephora and there were a few samples that I’d selected included with the items I purchased. One of the samples was a product called “No Frizz” (Frizz) made by a company called Living Proof. I opened up the sample packet and read the story behind No Frizz and was immediately struck by how clearly they defined their point of difference. Here’s what it said:
No Frizz is a collection breakthrough, anti-frizz products invented by Living Proof scientists. Formulas that contain the first new frizz control technology in over 30 years! With more than 1,000 frizz fighting products on the market today, just about every one of them tackles frizz the same way–Silicone. The problem is it’s ineffective at addressing the causes of frizz. Silicone coats hair with oil, allowing humidity to penetrate — leaving your hair limp, greasy and full of frizz.
Living Proof scientists set out to cross frizz off the list once and for all. They developed a new molecule that creates an extremely thin barrier on hair and eliminates the two causes of frizz. Water vapor is prevented from penetrating the hair shaft and friction between hair fibers is significantly reduced — resulting in a truly effective anti-frizz action.
So what’s No Frizz‘s point of difference? Innovation–they’re the first company in over 30 years to come up with a new way to tackle frizz. They even developed a new molecule to do it, giving No Frizz major “cool” factor. I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to bust open my sample and try it.
Here are some other companies that I think do a great job of establishing their point of difference:
- Wal-Mart–lowest price
- K9 Cuisine–organic dog food and fast, friendly, free service
- Zappos–massive selection and free shipping & returns
- Mom4Life–only mom-made products & free shipping
Well, what’s your point of difference? Let me know.
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Your site contain a many useful information for moms. I enjoyed the article. thanks!
Hi Heather,
I really want to buy the 50 SEO (That would be “SEW” for my business…haha!) secrets of Entreprenuer Moms. I see that there is spot for coupon code when I went to order. Is there a coupon code for Mogul Mom subscribers? Thanks for your response!
Julie Dunsmore
Owner/Creator
Sew Fab! Designs
http://www.sewfabdesigns.com
Thanks Heather, as usual, you raise a really important point. Just because we know what makes our product unique doesn’t mean that this gets communicated effectively to the consumers. We must make a conscious effort to really get across the reason why our product is great and different, the consumer’s not going to bother to try and figure it out.
Twitter: heathall
June 30, 2009 at 4:12 pm
Thanks, Catherine–and I agree. It’s important for us to communicate our point of difference to both consumers and potential retailers who might want to carry our products.
Heather
Thanks Heather! I totally agree. We are all on information overload, if we don’t spell out what makes us different, we will be passed by and not only do we lose the business but the potential client/customer has lost out on something they truly need. We at our business try to let them know, We are “All the service, No Extra Cost” but this article reminds me I need to be always evaluating if our further description is truly telling our story.
That’s great Cathy. Thank you!!
I sell at our local farmers market and right next to me they sell organic dog treats. They make a killing just doing it on Saturdays.
Thank your help the other day.
Twitter: heathall
July 1, 2009 at 1:07 am
Kathy,
I’ll be sure to tell my brother that, thank you! If you were referring to me when you said “thank you”, you’re welcome. Let me know how you make out with Stan & Maureen–they’re awesome.
Heather
Oh Heather I am SO honored to be pointed out as a company that has a notable “point of difference”, thank you!!! I really enjoyed your post and loved the example you provided about the sample hair product.
Twitter: heathall
July 1, 2009 at 1:07 am
Heather,
You’re SO deserving of the mention…I know the mom-made thing took some evolution but now that’s your “thang”. LOL.
Heather
When I started my company, The first thing that came to my mind was that why people will buy from me and not from my competitors? So, I was thinking naturally about point of difference. But your article made it clear that this is a necessary requirement for starting a business. Thanks for the article.
Hi Heather,
I enjoyed your post. You are right on target. Small business, like the one your brother is considering & k9cuisine.com should not be too concerned with competition. I believe that focusing on the competition is basically a waste of time and emotional energy. When you are starting a business there are far more important things to worry about. That is not to say I do not poke around on their web-sites, try learn from my competition, and see what they do well. But in general the competition can not duplicate what we are doing nor can we duplicate what they do so why worry about them.
The most important thing to focus on is the customer. In my opinion the customer is the best barometer what we do well and what we need to improve. I also work a lot on the K9 Cuisine “brand” or what I like to call the value equation. Simply stated the value equation is all the things we do for customers, prompt order processing, free shipping, great packaging, free shipping, an easy to use web-site, relationship, customer service, etc… Notice I did not mention products, price, or competition. In our case the products are more or less available from the competition. If someone wanted to they could buy from someone else but I believe they buy from us because of the value they receive. They are buying identical products but they get more from K9 Cuisine.
Thanks,
Anthony Holloway
CEO K9Cuisine.com
P.S. I have not visited themogulmom.com in a while. You have made some fantastic changes. I really like the new look.