It is usually seen that most entrepreneurs ape profit making units, particularly so in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) who try to copy marketing strategies of their competitors, instead of innovating their own strategies based on what their competitors are doing.

In a bid to gain a competitive edge over the competitor, one tries one’s hand at too many things which are sometimes not one’s forte or area of expertise. This is actually a dangerous approach. With no genuine fall back plan, one stands to lose if the competitor incurs losses due to a faulty marketing approach.

SMEs thus need to be very careful not to fall prey to such desires such as implementing their competitors’ strategies solely in their marketing plans. It’s a fact that one can’t survive on somebody else’s food. It is felt that copying will always keeps you in the second slot.

There are many reasons to believe that every SME or any other enterprise needs to create its own Unique Selling Proposition (USP). While there is a need to define the benefits keeping the customers in mind, there is also a need to look into a couple of things about the product or service that can or should be important to the customers.

An entrepreneur needs to identify the competitors advantages and how he is positioned in the market. Then figure out the differences from one another, as also what is the competitors USP? Based on these findings, the neo entrepreneur needs to separate himself from the competitors and place his own products USP; in order to be unique when positioning himself in the market.

An organization also needs to identify the market deficiencies. It needs to first find areas in the market where there is a void vis-a-vis the products it is selling or the services it is offering. Once it finds a suitable answer to this, there will be no dearth of customers/buyers.

It is also very important for an organization to identify and understand its customers’ needs. The USP of it’s products is not about the company producing it, rather, it is, or should be about its customers and how they (the products) will make them feel or help them. There is a need to concentrate more on the benefits of the products or services and not on the features. It needs to nbe understood how big companies not only prepare strategies but also take great pains in figuring out how to implement and manage implementation. However, if SME’s follow one another as if it is a rat race; then even if one wins the race, it will still remain a rat.

The need of the hour is to differentiate ourselves from rest. Unless we know what we are good at, we will never able to give our customers a good reason to come to us.