Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) acts as the foundation for all your marketing and promotional efforts. It ties together the overall brand message of your business and provides clarity about what differentiates your company from other competitors.
Having a clear and unique USP makes it easy for customers to remember what makes you different. It can also allow them to connect with your brand on an emotional level, which will ultimately lead to greater sales. But how do you define a unique selling proposition?
Writing an effective USP is an art form and many companies pay big bucks to get it right. Your ability to write one could mean the difference between success and failure for your business.
It can be difficult to identify what makes you special, everyone can claim they offer the best price and that their customer service is exceptional, but what really stands you out amongst the crowd – is it experience? Something you can guarantee that others can’t?
How to define your USP in 5 steps:
- Define your target audience
First you need to understand who your target audience is before you can reach out and connect with them. In order to do this, you need information about what they like, what they don’t like, and how much money they make as well as general demographics such as age range. The more information you have on your target audience the better!
- Define what need your product or service meets
Creating the perfect list of features and benefits is more than just deciding what you have to offer. It’s about finding all the needs your product or service could meet, what problem do they solve? What solution do they offer? These will be key selling points.
- Compare your USP against your competitors
Take a look at your competitors, what are their USPs? Find out and remove any matching ones you’ve created from your list. The keyword here is Unique, if you’re using the same USP as a competitor then you won’t stand out to your potential customers.
- Match your USP to your strengths
Take a look at your strengths. What are you good at? What is your business good at? How do you want to be seen? This is often a difficult choice for companies to make, but can really set you apart from your competitors.
- Does your USP pass the following criteria?
The final test for your chosen USP is to ask the following: Does it highlight a benefit? Is your customer likely to remember it? Is it clear who you are targeting? Can you actually guarantee what it promises? Is it unique enough?
Your USP should be simple, memorable and something that speaks to your audience directly or indirectly about how your product or service will improve their life. Once you’ve got your USP nailed, make sure you convey the message in every part of your marketing.
