{"id":124904,"date":"2024-08-19T08:39:19","date_gmt":"2024-08-19T12:39:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=124904"},"modified":"2024-08-20T12:00:22","modified_gmt":"2024-08-20T16:00:22","slug":"how-to-make-your-product-unique","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-make-your-product-unique\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Make Your Product Unique: Create a Niche Market"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Are you failing to make sales<\/a> on a product that other companies are already selling? How can you make your product different from your competitors’s products?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One way to differentiate your company is by developing a unique product<\/a> or service. Even if you’re selling a common item that other companies have, it needs a different qualification that persuades customers to believe your product is the best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep reading to learn how to make your product unique, according to Mike Michalowicz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Develop a Completely Unique Product or Service<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Knowing how to make your product unique eliminates all your competitors by redirecting customer demand in a new direction that no other companies are pursuing. And since you\u2019re the only one operating in this new niche\u2014an extremely unique position\u2014you\u2019ll attract customer interest and your company will grow more successful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To do this, identify your industry\u2019s standard operating procedures<\/strong>\u2014the unspoken rules that everyone follows and expects from a company in that industry\u2014and then do the opposite.<\/strong> Specifically, Michalowicz recommends identifying which common strategies and policies irritate <\/em>people. If your opposite approach resolves those issues, you\u2019ll attract customers<\/a> both by being extremely unique and by improving their experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One example of a company that developed a unique service is Amazon. Amazon made online shopping fast, convenient, and reliable, which radically changed the way people shop. Arguably, its success is partially due to the ways it resolved the annoyances of online shopping: Long shipping times make people more reluctant to shop online, so Amazon delivers packages within a few days\u2014or even on the same day\u2014of an order being placed. People don\u2019t want the hassle of buying their products through several niche stores, so Amazon offers a massive range of products. As a result, Amazon is the largest ecommerce company in the world<\/a> by revenue and is on track to surpass Walmart as the largest of any <\/em>company in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further Advice for Developing Unique Products or Services<\/strong>

In Blue Ocean Strategy<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>W. Chan Kim and Ren\u00e9e Mauborgne agree that developing a unique product is a good way to differentiate your company. In fact, they say doing so is one of the keys to business growth<\/a> and success. In a study the authors conducted, they found that 86% of new companies launched in existing markets\u2014entering competition instead of pursuing a new direction\u2014and only generated 39% of profits<\/a>. In contrast, 14% of new companies created new markets (or niches) and generated 61% of profits.

Kim and Mauborgne also agree that you should overturn industry norms when designing your product. Specifically, identify whether your industry prioritizes functionality or emotionality<\/a> and prioritize the opposite. For example, cosmetics lean toward emotion: They\u2019re designed to make customers feel beautiful. Meanwhile, house paint leans toward function: It\u2019s designed to provide objective benefits like durability. You may differentiate your company by taking a more functional approach to selling cosmetics, such as emphasizing how a product is long-lasting. Or you might take an emotional approach to house paint, such as making homeowners feel better about themselves and their homes by emphasizing how the paint makes them look refined.

Finally, when identifying irritations to resolve, Kim and Mauborgne emphasize that you should consider everyone <\/em>in the buying chain. Sometimes, the person buying the product isn\u2019t the end user, and that end user may have different irritations that you can resolve. For instance, if an office manager buys 100 office chairs, they may be irritated by pricing or the inconvenience of transporting the chairs after purchase. However, the office workers are the end users, and they may be irritated by the chair\u2019s cushioning or the difficulty of adjusting its height. If you can resolve issues for both <\/em>parties, you\u2019ll likely generate even more interest and success.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Are you failing to make sales on a product that other companies are already selling? How can you make your product different from your competitors’s products? One way to differentiate your company is by developing a unique product or service. Even if you’re selling a common item that other companies have, it needs a different qualification that persuades customers to believe your product is the best. Keep reading to learn how to make your product unique, according to Mike Michalowicz.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":128588,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,79,103],"tags":[1509],"class_list":["post-124904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-entrepreneurship","category-sales","tag-the-pumpkin-plan","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nHow to Make Your Product Unique: Create a Niche Market - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Every business needs to find or create a niche market to sell in. But where do you start? 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