149: Evaluating Your Unique Serving Proposition

EVALUATING YOUR UNIQUE SERVING PROPOSITION

Episode 149 on the Business Bites Podcast

Talking to everyone is talking to no one. Offering everything is offering nothing. Welcome back! To kickstart the new year, I’m continuing this entrepreneurial series, which accompanies my RealBiz Accelerator program and sets out to help you create a business plan that hones in on foundational basics, is easily implemented, and successfully strategized, so that you can thrive and not just survive. You’ve heard about identifying your consumer avatar, and today’s episode deals with the next step in the formula: evaluating your unique serving proposition. Tune in to find out what the difference is between selling and serving, how to become the “go-to” business in your industry, and the value of simplifying your offering, as well as understanding how to help and empower your consumers. Let’s get started!

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I’m all about serving over selling. The reason I got into entrepreneurship was so I could serve to help others. They could have real business, real life; have a real business to sustain and support the real life.

Rachel Brenke

Key Points From This Episode:

Importance of reinforcing and revisiting business foundations annually.
Evaluate your unique serving proposition, with an emphasis on serving.
Find out how I became the “go-to” for legal resources in the photography industry.
Imagine your business and marketing like a huge boulder – start smaller. Be specific.
Simple Formula = consumer avatar + unique serving proposition + simplified offering + packaging it to a theme.

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EPISODE 149

[0:00:01.1] Talking to everyone is talking to no one, offering everything is offering nothing. We are continuing this series to kick-off the year of creating a business plan that we can get very honed in on foundational basics, easily implement, and really successfully strategize, so that we can thrive and not just survive. Let’s get going on identifying our unique serving proposition.

[INTRODUCTION]

[0:00:26.5] Welcome to The Business Bites Podcast. The podcast for busy entrepreneurs. Whether you’re an online entrepreneur, or seeking after brick-and-mortar success, this podcast brings you quick bites of content so you can learn and grow anywhere you are. Now, here’s your host, Rachel Brenke.

[0:00:43.0] Just an FYI, before we get into the episode, enrollment is open on multiple of my brands. So, here at Rachel Brenke, we have RealBiz accelerator. It’s a 52-week program where you get to work with me on a lot of the topics that we are working on here. Over at TheLawTog, my brand for photographers, we have something very similar but it is photographer specific.

Just an FYI, it is the beginning of a new year, no matter when you’re listening to this, but right now, the beginning of 2021, we’re kicking off, enrollment is open. Please come and join us. We are digging in. There’s pre-work, there’s weekly work, there’s videos, there’s accountability, all of that.

Come join us and let’s make this the best year ever.

[INTERVIEW]

[0:01:24.7] Hello friends, welcome to another week of The Business Bites Podcast, I am your host, Rachel Brenke, and this series that we are currently in is one of my favorites. The reason is, this is something that I feel like so many entrepreneurs either completely overlook, because they’re overwhelmed, they don’t know about it, they’re just excited, or they do it once and they never come back to it.

But let me tell you what. I have not gotten to where I am and I’m not going to get to where I want to go without continuingly reinforcing and going through this methodical foundational process every year. FYI, if you’re just joining us on this episode, we are already a few weeks into this, and we’ve also had the RealBiz challenge at rachelbrenke.com, which is a free challenge.

That’s a good foundational, free place to start. Watch the videos, download the guide, go through all of that. Then come and listen to these last few episodes and we’re going to continue, we’ve got a couple more to go for this month, and it will give you the view of what I do every single year in order to dig into my business and create a business strategy that is going to be about thriving, not just surviving.

I keep using this phrase, along with a RealBiz, real life, because those are two of the cornerstones that I look to when I am making decisions in my business. But that is just the “tip of the iceberg.” You guys know, you all know and you’ve heard my podcast for years, if you’ve been around or if you’ve seen me on social media. If you’re new, you’re going to learn I’m all about tough love. But you know, it can be overwhelming to get into entrepreneurship. We have to wear so many hats, especially if you’re just getting in, you’re in growing stages, you’re having growing pains, maybe it’s just you or you’re learning to manage your team.

Wherever you’re at in your journey, it can be completely overwhelming and, here’s my thing, you all, I have like, my hands over my eyes, you can’t see me, it’s just – I want you to feel the love radiating and like, the frustration that I feel for all of you. There is so much misinformation, these silver bullets out there that are being promised in advertisements, other podcasts, webinars, you name it.

[0:03:40.6] The deal is, baseline, we got to be ourselves. But we also have to work methodical within ourselves. It’s kind of like where my whole framework comes from. But, to get to today’s point of the next step of this series, we want to identify not only the cornerstone, quick tips to create in a business strategy a couple of weeks ago.

Last week, we’ve talked about marketing is made so incredibly easy and not just marketing but your business decisions to kick that over along or made easier when you know specifically who you’re talking to. And if you didn’t listen to that episode and you think you’ve got it, trust me, you need to go back and redo it.

But we also have to keep trucking down this formula of all right, what’s the next step? Before I get into this, before I dig into the heavy content so you all can get in, write your notes, get out, and get actionable, this formula that I’m providing over the last few weeks is what I use for everything in my business. If I have a business opportunity that comes to me, such as a reporter interview, or maybe speaking at a conference, or maybe just working with a local business, or even online business in the same industry, or if I’m trying to decide I’m creating a new product, a new offering, any of that.

I use this formula. I start with identifying, very specifically, who my consumer avatar is. Mine’s name is Eva. I know exactly what she likes, I’ve gone through the whole process like we went through in the last episode, and I take it a step further and I go, “Okay, how would Eva consume this?” Okay?

[0:05:07.7] What does that mean? Well, what is the path that she would consume it? But also, what would she think about this? What would be her response, what do I want her to do, all right? That’s the first part of the formula.

The second part is what we’re talking about today. This is the unique serving proposition, and I emphasize serving because I’m all about serving over selling. The reason I got into entrepreneurship was so I could serve to help others. They could have real business, real life; have a real business to sustain and support the real life, whatever that looks like for you. In order to do that, you have to also look at it from a serving position, but uniquely serve from a position that makes you the “go to” in whatever industry that you’re in.

Let me give you an example of how I done this specifically. One of my brands, TheLawTog, is the legal resource for photographers. I have set myself up to be not just the “go to” legal research because there’s so much information in the legal field for photographers.

[0:06:03.7] But I’ve honed very specifically on contracts/legal business and also copyright. Because we’re photographers, they’re selling not just business products and services but they’re selling an actual product that is completely integrated with intellectual property and copyright laws.

How does this work? Why is this important. Well now, when I’m in groups, et cetera. I have these years of developing this brand, when people ask, “Hey, I got an issue with copyright, who do I talk to?” They say TheLawTog or Rachel Brenke.

I want you all for a second to imagine it like a huge boulder, right? Think Indiana Jones style, this huge boulder. That is your marketing, that is your business, you’re trying to get going, you’re trying to serve, you’ve already done the – “All right, I want to talk to Eva the avatar.” Whatever you’ve named yours. But now you got to figure out what you’re going to serve them when you want to get going.

In the beginning, it can be very difficult and if you’re trying to serve everything and be everything to everyone, you’re going to be pushing this huge, huge, huge boulder and it’s really hard to get it going, right?

[0:07:05.1] What do we want to do? We want to start smaller, get a smaller little rock that we can roll and push and then, almost like a snowball, it can add snow on to it and it can build bigger as you go. What I’m saying is, you want to become the “go to” for something and how are you going to do that? Through the unique serving proposition.

Let me give you another example. While I may be very heavy in the photography industry of TheLawTog, I’ve been at nine photography conferences, speaking, attending, visiting, any of that. I’ve had people come up and say, “Hey, you’re the “go to” in photography. Hey, you’re the copyright gal for photographers.”

Absolutely crazy. The reason I give you these examples is because it makes your marketing, it makes your business, it makes your serving of those that you’re trying to serve, like your Eva’s, it makes it easier. It makes it your return on invest of your time, money, and energy is going to be so much more maximized when you are very narrowly targeted into what your uniquely serving. So, you want to think about, “What can I do? What can I provide? How am I uniquely situated into this?” Actually again, if you haven’t gone to the RealBiz Challenge, go over to rachelbrenke.com.

We’ve got it linked at the top, we walk through this, because you may be sitting there especially if you are newer in business and going, “Oh my gosh. I have all of these that I am looking offer. I could offer all of this. I want to do all of this. I want to be a generalist. I want to cast my net wide.” Guess what? You’re going to be casting it so wide that you’re not going to catch anybody and that is not just with who you’re talking to but it’s also what you’re serving. You want to be the go-to.

Now, giving a couple more examples, and you may not understand these names, but I am going to throw it out here as some little homework for you. I want you to look at someone like James Wedmore. He is an online digital marketer, he is a business coach, he has some fantastic programs for business owners, and he started out by teaching very narrowly to entrepreneurs on how to leverage YouTube, okay? So, he talked to a very specific avatar and he had a very unique serving proposition.

He was serving to them and selling to them of how to capitalize on YouTube. He has then expanded that. So, he started with a little snowball and was able to just build it and push and push and push it, and grab more snow, and now has expanded it to all digital CEO’s.

Another example would be Jasmine Star. She started in the photography industry, and what does she do? She is now known for social media marketing because that is one of the things that she was really good at in the photography world. She went from a very specific niche of just photography and now has transitioned and opened it up and widened it up to other industries.

[0:09:46.6] These are the ways that I want you to reframe your mind but however, it is going to depend on where you’re at in your journey. We’ll talk about that, how to identify, when to make those changes, pivots, etcetera but, foundationally, let me walk you through how I do this every year. I sit down and I walk through all of the steps that we’ve talked to before. I go back through the RealBiz Challenge. I go back through identifying the consumer avatar.

FYI, in RealBiz Accelerator, I walk through and share with you my own analytics and views of how like, “Okay, I know that I want to attract this sort of avatar that’s not my existing one” or “Oh my gosh, my analytics are showing me X but I actually want to be attracting Y. How do we change that?” And that’s something that you need to do. You need to situate and start where you’re at right now. If you have analytics and all of that, pull up your Google analytics.

Pull up your Facebook, pull up all of that demographics, talk to your audience, see where they’re at right now. That is where you’re going to determine – well, first of all like last week, are we serving the people that we want to? Are we attracting the people that we want to? Then this week, what do we want to specifically serve to them? We’re going to be talking about offerings later on down the line in the series but this kind, they can join here too, because your unique serving proposition – let’s take TheLawTog, for example.

I am fairly situated in a niche industry, photography, right? Portrait photographer specifically, do some commercial but very heavy in portrait photography. So that big boulder of mine is getting smaller and smaller and smaller and then, I came out the gate by talking very specifically on contracts because I was taken not only what I could uniquely provide but also what I felt like those Eva the avatar’s uniquely needed.

[0:11:25.8] I was able to marry those together and, as time has gone on, I’ve added additional offerings. I’ve added additional resources to help serve them and promote their business, but here’s the deal. When I had first started out, and I’m raising my hands because, again, I am the case study in all of these series. When I first started out, I was just Rachel Branke. I did not have TheLawTog, did not have Fit Legally, did not have any of my brands. I was just Rachel Branke and it was this very general entrepreneurship.

I want to help entrepreneurs, which is great. That’s what I want, that’s all I want more than anything is to serve and help other people to have the real business, real life, right? I feel like I have obtained and continuing to work towards, right? However, again, it was that big boulder versus small boulder, you know small rock. It’s harder to push the big one in the beginning.

It’s a lot harder for people to recognize you specifically for something. Some of the homework here is to just sit back and think about what are some of the go-to people? When you sit down to Google, and you go, “Okay, I need recommendations on how to do X,” who comes to mind? That person has the developed a really good unique serving position and that is what you need to develop as well.

Now, it is not as simple as sitting here and going, “Okay, I know what I want to offer. I know what they need,” blah-blah-blah. It can get very drilled down into it. We want to make sure that we’re really providing what is needed, and you know what? You may have to pivot and change. Like during COVID, we had to pivot a little bit and do different offerings and throw our marketing plan to the wayside. That’s okay, still foundationally we had a unique serving position in all of our brands.

[0:12:58.3] That’s what we continue to do, even through this podcast. I’m uniquely serving because, here’s the deal, when this is being released and recorded and hopefully maybe even in the future because guess what? This content is timeless. This is stuff that I do all the time. I think about it, when I’m about to write a blog post, when I’m going to do a podcast, I think through this entire formula on all business decisions but especially when I am creating my business plan.

Because this is what is needed and yes, it sounds so foundationally basic, but so many people skip over it and, really, if you just take the formula of consumer avatar, plus unique serving proposition, plus simplifying your offerings, plus packaging it into a theme, it will get served. Served to the people you’re trying to reach. You will help and empower them; it will help and empower you and we’ll all accomplish the goals that we need to.

So, I invite you all to please, come check out the RealBiz Challenge, it’s free if you haven’t done it. If you’re already done it or you’re just like, “I didn’t want to jump right in,” please come join us in RealBiz Accelerator on rachelbranke.com, 52 weeks. We’re diving in. We do have coaching calls coming up, you do not want to miss it. We get in way deeper on this content, and guess what? I will walk you through how we’re going to identify your unique serving proposition in there.

It may not necessarily be what you think because guess what, mine has changed over the years and here are the formulas and ways that identify if I need to change mine. If my audience has changed it for me or if there is just a radical external circumstance that needs to force me to make a change, whether temporary or permanent. We walk through all that so come and join us and I will see you guys inside.

[END OF DISCUSSION]

[0:14:32.8] ANNOUNCER: Thanks for joining Rachel on this episode of The Business Bites. For show notes, a list of recommended tools, or referenced episodes, you can find them at businessbitespodcast.com. Until next time.

[END]

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As a mom, team USA athlete and cancer-survivor, I want a real life while I have a real business. This is why my resources don’t promote hustle-culture, rather tough-love and no-holds-barred tips to achieving both. In addition to this website, I have a top-ranked business podcast, been featured in places like Forbes and work 1:1 with so many of you.

Enough about me though. I am proud of you for pursuing entrepreneurship. It is rewarding and amazing. Keep at it!

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EVALUATING YOUR UNIQUE SERVING PROPOSITION

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Hi, I’m Rachel Brenke