Why would someone buy from you?

People do things for a reason. That reason might not always seem the most logical or vital but there’s always a reason. Figuring out the reasons a potential customer would buy from you is the first important step in creating a marketing plan for your business – and probably the most important question you can answer.

The easiest way to start is with the basics. Why would a customer buy at all?

A customer buys something because they want to fill a specific need or want. People buy food because they don’t want to be hungry, they buy accountancy services because they want their taxes filed and they hire a painter because they want their walls to look good.

Of course, most customers want more than just the basics. They need food to avoid going hungry but they’re also likely to want it to taste good. They may also want it to be healthy, or cheap, on convenient or to make an impression at a dinner party.

These are all specific reasons why someone would buy from a particular business. The problem is that everyone will say the same thing. Everybody offers ‘a great service at an affordable price’, every car insurance firm says they are the cheapest, every restaurant has great food and every taxi firm has a ‘fast and reliable service’.

When everybody says the same thing, customers simply ignore everyone. Then it’s down to who’s got the biggest budget.

So if you haven’t got fortunes to spend, need to say something different. In other words, you need to identify the benefits that you can offer that are unique to you. Here are a few examples:

• People will buy from a corner shop because it’s the closest shop to them, if they don’t live nearby they won’t. Their location and convenience make them unique.

• Fashion conscious shoppers will buy from a retail outlet because they are the only place that stocks a particular brand, people who aren’t into brands won’t care.

• A bar could attract a specific clientele because they’re the only place to have live bands on a Friday night, people who don’t like live music will go elsewhere.

Take away the unique points from any of these businesses and customers wouldn’t seek them out – there would be no reason to. Likewise, if what’s unique about you doesn’t interest your potential customers you’re no better off. A shop full of high fashion brands that nobody likes (or has even heard of) won’t succeed.

Bring that all together and you get a simple process:

1. Make a list of things customers want – i.e. reasons why they buy
2. Make a list of benefits you can offer
3. Rule out anything that the customer can get somewhere else just as easily – i.e. things that aren’t unique to you
4. Whatever’s left are the reasons customers will buy from you and the most effective marketing message you can use

Now that you’ve identified what makes you unique, the next step is to start figuring out the groups of potential customers that your ‘uniqueness’ is most likely to appeal to - and how you can build it all into a powerful and effective message.