Doug Theis Leave your comfort zone.

Today I finished a request for proposal (RFP) for a prospective Lifeline Data Centers client.

The RFP was unusually concise and simply written, and Lifeline’s response was in the same style. I checked to make sure we hit all of the specific points that the company requested. Then I finished the RFP by adding what we believe to be Lifeline’s differentiators; how Lifeline is different, and the reasons why companies choose Lifeline. I attempted to answer the question that all potential clients have in the back of their mind: “What’s so special about you?”

If you’re in business development, or if you represent your organization, you should have answers to that question. Don’t forget that the answers need to be framed from the prospective client’s point of view. Companies don’t care if you try and maintain high margins. They may not care about how you’ve grown and changed. Be careful with words like I, me, mine, our, and us. If it doesn’t help the potential client, and if it’s something others offer, you may not be that special.

The same is true for your personal life. What’s special about you? How do you introduce yourself in a way that makes you memorable?

In your business and personal lives, do you have good answers to the question “What’s so special about you?”

One of the biggest challenges that any small business faces in the area of marketing is standing out from everyone else that say it’s doing what you’re doing.

Until you can firmly offer a solid reason for why you should buy from or hire us over everyone else, you’ll compete on price.

As you develop a marketing strategy for your business you must proactively create the value proposition of “why us” and build all of your marketing messages, products, services, processes and follow-up communication around supporting that proposition.

This is how you use strategy to dominate your market. This is how you define value in terms that matter to those you are trying to attract.

Below are seven ways to think about defining and refining your core value proposition.

7 Competition Crushing Value Propositions : Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing

Editor’s Note: This guest post is written by Nir Eyal (@nireyal) and Katy Fike, PhD (@innovate50). Katy is a gerontologist and partner at Innovate50 while Nir is a founder of two startups and blogs about technology and behavior design at nirandfar.com.

As web watchers, entrepreneurs, and investors search for the next big thing, they’d be wise to focus on innovations that can be easily adopted by technology novices. A recent string of companies, including Groupon and Pinterest, have found success outside the early-adopter digerati by building products simple enough to be used by just about anyone.

Designing with tech novices in mind can mean the difference between staying niche and going mainstream. Here are three principles for designing software for people Silicon Valley too often disparagingly calls “normals.”

1. What’s it for?

Don’t tell them “how it works” or “what it is” and certainly don’t tell them how wonderful your company is. Just tell them in big, uncluttered, blatantly obvious terms what your service is for. Novice users need to know when your service would be useful in their lives.

Take a look at Twitter’s homepage for new users. It says simply, “Welcome to Twitter. Find out what’s happening, right now, with the people and organizations you care about.” Same story at Facebook. “Facebook helps you connect and share with the people in your life.” Brilliant! Now the tech novice knows, in no uncertain terms, when and why these sites would be useful. Twitter is for knowing what’s happening and Facebook is for connecting and sharing.

More of the TechCrunch post from Nir Eyal and Katy Fike

Feeling like a failure in business? If you’re frustrated and overwhelmed, use this method to go from an F to an A++.

Being in business for yourself is anything but predictable. For some entrepreneurs, the ups and downs lead to many sleepless nights which are spent digging for the answer; the one magic button that will produce miracles.

Sometimes racking your brain for the answer can generate results, but typically it creates nothing more than a headache. What I’m about to suggest for those of you in this predicament may seem counter-intuitive, but if I could go so far as offer a money-back guarantee on this I would! Here it is: accept your circumstances, appreciate what you have, and adjust the way you think.

That’s right, it’s that simple. It’s what I call the A++ Method: Accept, Appreciate, and Adjust. The simple A++ reminders can make your life so much easier, and get rid of those nighttime headaches. Recently I had the opportunity to see these three steps put into action in a way I’ve never before witnessed.

More of the Inc.com post from Marla Tabaka