Your Unique Selling Proposition, Part I

October 10th, 2008 · No Comments

Your USP (Unique Selling Proposition) is one of the most important elements of your marketing program. An essential element of differentiating your business is to create a Unique Selling Proposition–or USP. It is as important as a Mission Statement and a written Business Plan. It is an essential part of your branding and should be on every piece of printed material that leaves your office, on your business cards, and in every email or web page you publish.

Your USP should be the unique position you have in the marketplace. In other words what is it about your product or service that sets you apart from your competition. Why should I, as a customer, buy from you instead of your competitors? After all, I might think the best place to buy is at the closest or the biggest business that offers whatever I have in mind. You must position your business uniquely in the marketplace–the business worth traveling an extra distance to reach, pay a little more money for, etc.

If you do not have a unique position in the marketplace for you products or services, by all means get one!

The Unique Selling Proposition Concept

You do want to imitate others, but it’s also important to be different in a creative fashion. You must distinguish your business or practice from all the rest. Make your business special in the eyes of your customer or client. That must be your goal.

A USP is that distinct and appealing idea setting you and your business, practice, service, or product, apart favorably from every other competitor in your marketing area. Your long-term marketing and operational successes will, ultimately, be helped or hurt by the USP you create. The one you start with will follow you for some time regardless of changes you may make.

The possibilities for crafting a USP are nearly limitless. However, it is best, to adopt a USP that dynamically addresses an obvious void in the marketplace that you can honestly and effectively fill.

But be very careful! It is adverse and counter-productive to adopt a USP, if you cannot fulfill the promise. In fact, that is worse than not having a USP at all. If you cannot deliver, for whatever reason, you will have a lot of dissatisfied, possibly angry customers. Their negative influence in the marketplace is a very powerful obstacle to try to overcome! As an aside, it takes approximately ten vocal, satisfied customers to overcome each one who is disgruntled.

Most business owners don’t have a USP. They usually think of branding as a logo. They have only a “me too,” directionless, nondescript, unappealing business that feeds solely on the sheer momentum of the marketplace. They have nothing unique or distinct. They promise no superior value, benefit, or service. They simply say “buy from us” but for no justifiable, rational reason. They are depending on those customers who simply stumble into their businesses hoping the customers don’t know any better than to buy from them. This approach may provide them a profit, but only in a growing dynamic market. They will have nothing to help their businesses, much less insulate them, when there is any contraction of the economy in their area. A recession clears out most of those businesses.

It should be no surprise that most businesses, lacking a USP, merely get by. Their failure rate is high, their owners are frequently apathetic, and they get only a small share of the potential business available to them. But other than possibly a convenient location, why should they get any business at all, if they fail to offer any appealing promise, unique feature or special service? They remain the ”me too,” “buy from me just because” businesses who likely don’t deserve to remain in business.

Is it any wonder that in a weak or down market, most go bankrupt. I frequently hear such business owners say, “The community simply didn’t support my business.”

Why should the ”community,” any community, ”support” such a business? There is no reason that the potential customers should, is there? Does any business “deserve” to exist in the marketplace “simply because?” If a business does not truly make an effort to solve a customer’s problem, there is certainly no inherent or fundamental right to exist.

Would you want to patronize a firm that is simply “exists,” with no unique benefit, no great prices or selection, no especially good service, or no guarantee?

Wouldn’t you prefer a firm that offers you the broadest selection in the country? How about one with every item marked up less than half the margin other competitors charge? What about one that sells the “Rolls Royce” of the industry’s products?

See what an appealing difference the USP makes in establishing a company’s perceived image or posture to the customer? Does it make sense to operate any business without carefully constructing a clear, strong, appealing USP into the very substance of the daily existence of that business?

The point is to focus on the one niche, need, or gap that is most clearly lacking, if, and only if, you can keep the promise you make. If you can’t, change your USP or develop another one that delivers a promise you can keep.

It is always critical to fulfill the “core promise” of your USP.

This is the foundation of your business and its marketing plan. If you cannot always honestly deliver on that core promise, by l means select another one on which your business can deliver all the while being certain it is unique and that you can fulfill on it. Again, if you are not certain you can deliver on it consistently throughout your entire organization, develop another one!

Remember, your USP is the core promise around which you will build your future business success. This will be the key to your fame and wealth, so you must be able to state it clearly and concisely. If you can’t state it clearly, your prospects won’t see it clearly. Whenever a customer needs the type of product or service you sell, your USP should bring your company, product, and service immediately to mind.

Your business will be great and success inevitable. IF your USP is clearly conveyed to your customers and potential customers via your marketing and business performance. But your USP must be a lean, mean delivery machine.

Clearly conveying the USP through both your marketing and your business performance will make your business great and success inevitable. But you must reduce your USP to a lean, mean delivery machine.