So you want to make a name for yourself. You want to be set apart from all of your competitors that give virtually the same services and offer pretty close to the same products as you.
Before spending money on a website, a flashy social media plan, and an ad spend in traditional markets, consider what makes you special. And then market only that.
Enter The Unique Selling Proposition
This single feature, or combination of distinguishing features, has been given many names over the years by various marketing pundits, but the most commonly accepted and longest lived is the unique selling proposition (USP), a term coined by Rosser Reeves, the CEO of Bates Advertising back in the 1950s. The interesting thing about a USP is that this unique attribute or feature doesn’t necessarily have to be unique to you, your product, or your services; you only have to create the perception that it is unique in the mind of the audience you are addressing. And if by so doing, you become the only one in your business category talking about your product’s special attribute, you end up owning its uniqueness.
This concept of a USP is the most crucial step to master when putting together a marketing strategy. Do not doubt for one minute that there will be some particular facet of your business you can promote as being unique, whether it’s in the products or services you create, the way you sell them or the second-to-none after-sales services you develop that keep customers coming back. Believe me, somewhere in that mix there will be something you can transform into a USP. All you have to do is find it, then communicate it to your potential market.
Nailing Your USP
Whether you’re brand new or reinventing yourself, identifying the essential core elements that can help build your company’s name and reputation will get you started on the road to fame, fortune and fast cars.
As you develop a marketing strategy you can use as the foundation of your communications plan, some questions you should consider, and hopefully come up with solid answers to are:
- Are you unique? If so, in what way? Can you definitely prove it?
- If you’re not unique, are you better at what you do than the competition? And if so, what exactly is it that makes you better?
- Can you demonstrate in easily understandable language (not BS) what it is that makes you better or different?
- If you believe you provide value, can you express it in 20 words or less, spelling out what is the unquestionable benefit you provide at a fair price to satisfied customers?
- Do you back up your quality products or services with rock-solid, no-questions-asked guarantees and unmatched customer relationships?
So let’s assume you can answer yes to at least one of the above items. (Perhaps even more than one.) If so, congratulations, you have a USP.
Put it down on paper. Put it on the landing page of your website. Put it in your company’s bio on every social media channel you engage on. Post it in noticeable places in your building. And live it. Daily.