Member Article

Is Your USP Really Unique?

Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) is the emotionally compelling reason to do business with you and your company, but is it really ‘unique’ and if not, what can you do about it?

The basis of your USP should be clearly defined so that anyone can understand it and it must be believable! Ideally it should be composed of 1-2 unique emotionally compelling reasons to do business with you, or 1-2 problems your company uniquely solves.

Your USP should answer the following questions:

• What benefit is unique to your offering? What niche do you fill? Why?
• Who is the target market for whom this benefit is of compelling interest? Why?
• What pain or pleasure does your product/service eliminate or offer?
• How will your product help them solve that pain/problem?
• What is your competition claiming? How are you different?

Your USP should describe the benefit your target market gets from your product or service. Differentiate this from a feature. A feature is a ‘nice to have’ about the product or service. A benefit is a solution to a problem or need your target market has.

How are you different from your competition? Remember, competitors may be direct – they do exactly what you do. Or they may be indirect – they compete for the same £’s as you compete for. Instead of challenging your competitor directly on their uniqueness, find a different angle where you can offer your target market a different benefit/solution.

So, where do you start?

• List all the reasons someone would do business with you;
• Which ones trigger an emotional response from your clients? (And why?);
• List the most significant problems you uniquely solve;
• Which ones are hardest for your competition to imitate?

Now, do the same for your competitors:

• List all the reasons someone would do business with your competitors
• Which trigger an emotional response or are most compelling?
• List all the problems they uniquely solve

Based on this comparison to your competition, and the understanding of your unique compelling emotional reasons, What is your unique competitive advantage?

Combine these concepts into a 1-2 line memorable statement that speaks to the unique, meaningful qualities about your business or brand. Make sure it’s a message that speaks to the need your prospective customer has. Also, make sure it does not say anything negative about your competition.

So the next time you have to deliver your USP, you’ll know it’s now ‘unique’ to you!

© Sandler Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Andrew Pickersgill .