If you have not created a memorable USP (Unique Selling Proposition) for your business, you cannot run a successful business.
- Your USP gives your customer a reason to choose you.
- It tells customers why they should buy from you instead of from your competitor.
- If your USP clearly distinguishes your business from your competitor’s business, it will be easy for you to promote and sell your products or services.
- A Unique Selling Proposition gives your business an identity that customers acknowledge and interact with.
Most importantly, you are setting yourself apart from all the other competitors on the market and building your brand.
There are various ways to determine the USP for your business. One of the easiest ways for a small or medium-sized business to do so is by focusing on the benefits of your product instead of the features.
If you prefer to follow a structured process, you can follow these five steps to create a memorable USP (Unique Selling Proposition) for your business.
1. Analyse your products or services
This is a good place to start when you are trying to put together a USP.
What products or services do you sell?
List them and the main qualities and characteristics of each product or service.
For example, if you are an engineering company, your products and services might be installing equipment and operational software programs as well as offering maintenance services.
2. Analyse your target audience
Your main audience can give you insights into how to approach them, including where to do your marketing and what kind of words to use to appeal to them.
Also, take some time to analyse how what you are offering compares to what your target audience is looking for. You can carry out a customer survey or have conversations with (potential) customers.
Pay close attention to any customer needs that are not yet being fulfilled. Are there any pain points that you can use in your USP to appeal to customers?
Whenever possible, take note of the words that your customers use to describe the pain points that are not being fulfilled. You can use these words in your marketing to target a specific group of customers.
3. List the things that your business does well
What are the things that differentiate your brand and your products or services from competitors?
Be as specific as possible.
For example, don’t just say that you offer better customer service. What makes your customer service better as compared to your top competitors? Where do you excel and why?
Remember to keep comparing this to the actual pain points that your customers are feeling.
This will show you where you are adding value as compared to your competitors. This value is part of your Unique Selling Proposition and can be used in your marketing to attract customers.
4. Look at the USP of your competitors
Do research on the competition.
Not to copy them, but to find out where you can distinguish yourself from them.
Your USP should be different from their USP, but it should have at least the same quality level.
This means that you will be looking for gaps between what they offer and what you offer. What are they focusing on in their branding and promotion? How are they showcasing their products?
Three competitors can sell the same product – let’s say a shoe – but position it in three completely different ways. Seller A may focus on the style, Seller B may focus on the quality, and Seller C may focus on the level of comfort while wearing the shoe.
5. Ask your employees for input
Two heads are better than one and four heads are better than two.
If you have people working for you – whether employees, contract workers or independent consultants – don’t forget to ask them for their input.
This is particularly the case if you have salespeople.
Based on their interactions with customers, they may have additional insights or perspectives that you had not considered. These insights and perspectives can be used to strengthen your USP.
How to create a memorable USP?
To be considered good, a USP must do three things very well:
- Be memorable. A statement that can easily be copied, like “high-quality products tailored to your needs” is too generic to make a lasting impression. A USP has to communicate an unmatched benefit.
- Be tangible. Your message has to be backed by everything that you do.
- Be customer-focused. It must showcase a feature or benefit that customers value and want.
Here are some examples of good USPs.
Emirates
Don’t just fly, fly better
- Memorable: we have all heard stories about horrible flying experiences or terrible airline customer service. “Fly better” is memorable because Emirates is telling customers that they offer a better alternative.
- Tangible: they have invested in the largest and most modern fleet of aircraft in the world.
- Customer-focused: Emirates is known for the high level of attention they pay to their customers to ensure a great experience from take-off to landing.
Turkish Airlines
Flying to the most countries
- Memorable: this is the airline that offers flights to the most countries in the world.
- Tangible: they have the resources, capacity, and agreements in place to fly to the highest number of countries.
- Customer-focused: customers who travel a lot can easily accumulate a lot of miles and get many discounts.
By the way, this is a great example of how two competitors (Emirates and Turkish Airlines) selling the same product (travel by air) can distinguish themselves from each other.
Emirates is focusing on the experience they provide to customers. Turkish Airlines is focusing on the fact that they offer customers a one-stop-shop service.
Canva
What will you design?
- Memorable: Canva makes it easy for anybody in the world – even if you do not have any design training or experience – to create professional designs.
- Tangible: their platform is very easy to use and they offer a wide variety of professional templates.
- Customer-focused: there is a very low learning curve and they offer professional templates that can be easily adjusted to create a professional image, flyer, or document in just a few minutes.
The Economist
Perspective changing analysis
- Memorable: basically, the Economist is saying that they provide the analysis and background information that gives you information that you would not have received otherwise. This information will change your perspective.
- Tangible: the articles in their magazine showcase multiple perspectives, offer background information, and go beyond what you can find in newspapers or other media channels.
- Customer-focused: they help their readers understand what is going on so that you can become informed and make up your mind.
Guide My Growth
Higher profits & faster growth for SMEs
This is my own USP.
- Memorable: every small and medium-sized business in this world is interested in higher profits and faster growth. I am promising SMEs a way to achieve this by growing their business organically.
- Tangible: I have used the knowledge and expertise that I offer through Guide My Growth to help SMEs in Europe, South Asia, and Africa grow their businesses through higher profits. In addition, the results are tangible for my customers because they can be measured in financial terms.
- Customer-focused: Guide My Growth was developed to answer the many requests that I got from business owners: how can we get money to grow our business when banks, investors, and other funders refuse to give us money?
I will repeat what I said at the beginning: If you have not created a memorable Unique Selling Proposition, you cannot run a successful business.
So, make sure that your USP showcases what sets you apart from your competitors.
