5 Steps to Your USP: Unique Selling Proposition

In this article, you'll learn: How to create something unique and amazing about your business. How to separate yourself from your competitors. How to distill your unique offering into a simple Unique Selling Proposition. Anytime you see a truly exceptional business, you are sure to find a "unique selling proposition" (USP)—something that sets that company apart from the competition and defines it in the minds of consumers. Basically, a USP is your answer to this question: "Why should I choose you over your competition?" But here's the kicker: You can only use one (maybe two) sentences. Look at these famous examples: Zappos: The only online shoe retailer that offers Free Shipping and Free Returns 365 days a year. Domino's Pizza: The only pizza company that guarantees delivery within 30 minutes or it's FREE. Toms Shoes: The only shoe company that donates a pair of shoes to a needy child with every pair purchased. Nordstrom: You can return anything purchased at Nordstrom at any time, no receipt necessary. Compelling, no? That's the power of a quality USP. But on the other side of the token, businesses without a USP struggle to form an identity, and ultimately fail to market the benefits they offer. The results are not something you want any part of. No matter what industry you are in, it is possible to create something that sets you apart. Essentially, every powerful USP is made up of two things: 1) an aspect of your business that makes it unique, and 2) a benefit you offer consumers. Without uniqueness, no one can distinguish you from your competitors. Without a (desirable) benefit or a clear-cut industry problem that only you are able to solve for them, no one has a reason to care about using your business. Yes, indeed: The USP is vitally important—but how do you create one? Follow these five simple steps to a specialized USP for your business. 1. Have an Honest ConversationGather your staff together, especially those who have direct contact with customers, such as salespeople. Once you have everyone together, you need to have a brainstorming session and answer these questions: Why is our product/service a "must have"? What are the benefits of choosing us over the competition? Disclaimer: You are going to hear your staff say things that will make you cringe! However, everything said here is productive because you need to know not only what you want the USP to be, but also how you are currently perceived. It is good to get a dose of reality every now and again. You also may find out there are benefits to your business that you hadn't considered before. 2. Find Out If You Are UniqueGo through the list above and cross out anything that your competitors can also claim. Is there anything left? Yes? Skip to Step Four. No? Proceed to Step Three. 3. Brainstorm Possible USP BenefitsSo there is not a current benefit that separates you from the competition. No biggie. That just means it is time to make another list. Brainstorm new ways you can offer a benefit to customers that they can't get elsewhere. (Maybe you can offer a guarantee of some kind? Maybe you can stay open later? Maybe you can offer free delivery?) No idea is too crazy at this point, you are just brainstorming. Answer these questions: What void in the marketplace can you fulfill? What can you guarantee about your product or service? What do people hate about your industry that you can fix? (This one is great, since solving a problem that most customers hate can be a real deal maker.) What niche do you or can you service that will differentiate you from others in your industry? The key here is to understand the points of 'pain' in your industry. Things your clients experience and really hate. In our industry, it was simply not having confidence that a campaign would actually work. Our proven results alleviate that pain point. You might need to make changes to your operation or revenue model to create something that is truly unique to you, but the increased effectiveness of your marketing should more than make up for the implementation costs if you have truly hit upon a desirable and exclusive benefit. For example, I had to hire a full time person to review campaigns and catalogue all the results in order to create campaigns based on all the successful previous ones we created. We couldn't do it without that new staff member dedicated to this activity. 4. Choose a USP BenefitNow that you have a list of benefits that are exclusive to your business, it is time to go through the list and identify the one that is best for your business. (If you only have one potential benefit on your list, your decision is made for you.) What is best in your particular case is for you to decide, since you know your business best. But, here are a couple things we HIGHLY recommend you keep in mind as you decide: A benefit that requires less upfront implementation cost is usually preferable to a benefit that requires a large shift in your operation. Every now and again you will find a benefit so desirable and unfulfilled in the marketplace that it is worth changing everything around to accommodate it, but this is very rare. A benefit that competitors cannot imitate is ideal. For example, no one else in our industry has been in business as long as PostcardMania or tracks results, so they can't claim to build their campaigns based on proven results. 5. Write Your USPTake your business's uniqueness and benefits and marry them together in a way that is absolutely crystal clear and easy to read. You don't want a single word to be lost on the reader. For example, my USP is, "PostcardMania is the ONLY postcard marketing company that creates your marketing campaign based on the proven results of over 62,428 other businesses." (And the number is always growing, because specifics are good in your USP.) From that, you clearly understand why we are different (i.e. we are the only company that tracks industry results and uses them to create our clients campaigns), and why we benefit you (better marketing = better results). Don't fluff it up—just say it clearly! Joy Gendusa is the owner and CEO of Clearwater, Fla.-based direct mail marketing firm PostcardMania. Reach her at joy.gendusa@postcardmania.com or on Google+. You can get a FREE step-by-step worksheet that incorporates everything above by visiting www.postcardmania.com/go/urlworksheet.

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5 Steps to Your USP: Unique Selling Proposition

Joy Gendusa

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