Identify Your Business' Unique Selling Proposition

A unique selling proposition (USP) is an important part of any business campaign for the creating of pricing advantage and giving customers a company that they genuinely value. It is a summary focused on outlining what makes your business better than competitors and why target clients would find you valuable or exclusive. It immediately answers the question, “What makes your business the better choice?”

Prospective consumers usually have difficulty when deciding between companies, so by giving them what they want to hear allows you to become desirable. It can be effective in giving clarity towards your marketing goals and business model. Unique selling propositions have high exposure and branding potential, which can make your business memorable leading to an upscale in growth and sales.

Credit to Germany Startup Jobs retrieved from Medium.com

Create your own unique selling proposition

The first step to this process is to identify ideal target audience. Catering your USP to a specific population avoids the hardship of attracting all consumers thus giving a competitive advantage. You can start by reviewing basic information such as your business plans, mission statement, market statistics or overall objectives. From there you may start asking questions the following questions:

What is your business selling?
Who is your target audience?
What does your business value and do well?
What customer-focused objective is most valued?

Choose the category that your USP would be most appropriate to target. The more basic influences that are nowadays guaranteed within many businesses are quality, price, assistance and speed. Specific classification could be guarantee, convenience, customisations, specialisation, variety or originality. These concepts can be broad, so it is important avoid clichés such as, “We guarantee GREAT quality.” This step could be visited more than once in the process of creating a unique selling proposition as the most appropriate category can change.

Next you need to consolidate what your strengths are. Further investigate as to why they are important to clients, how easy it is for competitors to copy or if it is only exclusive to your business and to what extent can they be communicated? For this step, you could initiate a survey for your current customer base to obtain an external perspective. These distinctive benefits are what give your business a competitive edge.

Now highlight the problem you can solve. By identifying a challenge that your target population faces, you can act upon and give them the solution that they are seeking. This solution should be different or of a higher standard when compared to your competitors, ensuring that it is the reason why customers make your business their first preference.

Most successful and memorable unique selling propositions contain a pledge or promise directed to their target audience. If your business backs it with guarantee and deliver the promise, then your USP could be the influence for future success. It is not imperative for the defined promise to be explicitly stated but simply implied. This must be taken into consideration when combining all information obtained from the previous steps into a concise paragraph. Attempt to rid recurring ideas by merging statements and rework it continually. You may prefer to take your time drafting several copies and asking for other perspectives. The finished USP should be a simple and specific sentence.

Why is a unique selling proposition important?

A large benefit to a successful unique selling proposition is the potential to creating a competitive cost and removing your business from a price war. Although, some consumers seek only a low price, considering other factors that are valued in decision-making will allow you to place yourself at a position of higher value. This not only grows brand awareness but the willingness of customers to pay more for your services.

Attention spans are becoming smaller with the ease of accessibility to information online. If consumers do not find information easily then they will quickly move on to the next company. A concise USP ensures that you communicate the message portrayed by your business to clients effectively.

After doing a customer analysis, businesses attempt to target customers who have more value. Clients could be more profitable than others due to the following factors:

Brand loyalty
Paying full price without negotiating
Preference to high-margin services or products
Minimal cancelling or amending of orders

If your USP focuses on customers who are seeking specific solutions to their problems or they are a part of a niche market, there is generally more potential profits.

Tips for writing a good unique selling proposition

Be assertive but make sure you can back up your business. Simply being “unique” is not a strong unique selling point when there are so many competing businesses – focus on differentiating factors that your target customers truly value and take advantage of those influences that are being sought. A USP that is memorable opposed to the generic message of “high-quality products”, allows a competitive edge which will threaten other competitors. It is important to remember that it is not the product or service being sold that has to be exclusive but the message that your company focuses on for your USP.

Don’t forget to do some research towards your competitors. Seeing how they want to be perceived through content and ads, is crucial to recognising where you fit in the market. It’ll allow you to understand the industry that you are operating within and to ensure that your USP is distinguished from the other businesses.

Your unique selling proposition should not be marketing offers like free shipping, 24/7 customer service or a strong returns policy. Although they are convincing and can be effective when offered collectively, many businesses possess these already.

Try not to limit the exposure you give your USP by incorporating it into your brand, products and any other positions where you are interacting with customers. It is important to repeatedly use the agree unique selling proposition in your marketing mix to ensure that it is remembered by customers. Many companies add it to their homepage and use it as a recurring theme by repeating it through ads or content offered to the public.

A USP is an important part of a business plan. It determines from the outset how you differ from your competitors, and embeds this into the marketing strategy, and business operations. With Planium Pro, you can keep that information all in one place.