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How to Find Your Unique Selling Proposition

A ‘Unique Selling Proposition’ (USP) is something that many businesses have but it would be true to say that most don’t know they have one. When you follow the simple steps in this article, you’ll be able to identify your USP and will probably find that you have more than one. Without a clear USP then your ability to focus on your market, conserve advertising and promotion dollars and, most importantly, write your Business Plan, is almost non-existent.

You may have heard about a thing called your ‘Differential’, as well as other things, your USP describes the difference between your business and your competition.

A Business Plan without a USP is like a ship without a rudder

It is extremely important that you should include your USP in your Business or Marketing Plan, you can be sure that if you are looking for funding or a bank loan, the providers of the cash are going to want to know what sets you apart from your competition and it had better be good.

Example: Bakery & Coffee Bar

Let’s say you decide to open a Bakery and Coffee Bar. There is some close existing competition and so you do some research and find out the following:

What the competition does

They open at 7 a.m. and close around 4.30 p.m
They offer a range of coffees and tea
They offer freshly prepared sandwiches and rolls
They offer a special order facility for birthday cakes

What they don’t do

They don’t offer today’s newspapers
They don’t offer an email your order service
They don’t offer office catering for special presentations etc.
They don’t donate left over stock to a food bank or similar

Your opportunity is to do what they don’t do and in the process establish your ‘Unique Selling Propositions’

Here’s what you do (You can still do the things your competition does as well if you choose to…

Open at 6 a.m. for early morning passing traffic and close at 6 p.m. to service customers on their way home from work
Offer 3 copies of each of today’s newspapers
Offer an email your order service
Offer office catering
Donate left over stock to local charities/food banks

The list can go on from here but the advice would be, don’t do it all at once. You’ll find a competitor matrix very useful in this process.

Once you have defined what your USP is, you need to set about creating some words and maybe images around each USP that you define.

Basic rules for a USP:

It must be something that you know is true and you believe in it
It should create some form of emotion in the reader
It must communicate instantly just what the USP is about
It should be specific
It should be concise
It should have real meaning
An important note A Unique Selling Proposition’ does not mean a ‘Permanent Unique Selling Proposition!’ Always have something up your sleeve to offer your customers and that way you will have the leaders advantage and have something to release in response to a competitors latest move.

Marketing Strategy Plan: What’s Your Unique Selling Proposition?

Every business must have a marketing strategy plan. The success of every business, whether online or offline, depends on business planning. Experts have shown that strategic planning in marketing is the key to improving efficiency and effectiveness in business. Business owners are advised to always present unique selling propositions. Deep insights in marketing are necessary for reasonable propositions.

Unique Selling Proposition and Its Benefits

A unique selling proposition (USP) can best be described as a marketing idea that differentiates one businesses product or service from its competition by way of a benefit or way of doing business. Your USP will convince the potential buyer from doing business with you because your proposition is seen as much more valuable as compared to your competition. Here are three famous USP examples:

“You get fresh, hot pizza delivered to your door in 30 minutes or less – or it’s free.” Domino’s Pizza

“The ultimate driving machine” BMW

“The milk chocolate melts in your mouth, not in your hand” M&Ms

Furthermore, a USP helps greatly in product marketing strategy. Every seller must be able to identify the company’s unique selling proposition. You do not sell what you do not know. You will be able to provide answers to any question asked by the buyer and thus convince the buyer to buy even more.

How do you know your USP?

1. Consider yourself to be a buyer.

The USP must be unique indeed. It ought to be an addition to the benefits that are obtainable in your industry. The consumer market research should be critically conducted. This will reveal the needs of the consumers and it’s the tool that will be used to uncover the USP. Having understood the needs of the consumer, the solutions to the needs are then made unique in such a way that it is completely different from those of the competitors.

2. Determine customers’ motivating buying factor.

You can get to know this by a simple questionnaire or by short interviews of your customer. Most customers will provide genuine answers as per what gives them the drive to purchase your products. This is very essential.

3. Determine reasons why consumers prefer your products and services.

The best source of getting feedback is through your customers. They provide you with the information you need to know about the reasons why your services or products are distinct and preferred to others in your industry. Some of your customers will even suggest how you can improve your services.

Ensure that your selling propositions are convincing enough to persuade customers to use your products and services. Also ensure that you retain your customers while you increase your customer database.

Brainstorming Unique Business Ideas

Truly unique concept development is a struggle, which is why there is often a lot of “copying” within an industry. Our new business, product and service ideas often have existing products and services as a base, producing only incrementally different results. Stepping outside of the existing framework, in order to see opportunities in a new light, is the key.

What is Brainstorming?

According to Wikipedia “brainstorming is a group creativity technique that was designed to generate a large number of ideas for the solution of a problem.” Brainstorming business ideas should be uncensored. No idea is dumb or impossible and each person’s contribution is equally valuable. The mail clerk’s ideas are as valued as the President’s.

In order to step outside of the existing business or industry framework, participants must “erase” their memories and pretend they know nothing about what is (or is not) possible. Consider each idea with equal thoughtfulness, no matter how outlandish. The task at hand when brainstorming truly unique business ideas is to free-associate, generating as many ideas as you can.

Brainstorming via the Five Senses

There’s nothing more boring than a sterile conference room. Yet this is where many new business idea / concept development sessions take place, in a room with four blank walls and no stimuli (far from the best atmosphere for brainstorming new ideas). Brainstorming sessions need “springboards” to get the creative juices flowing.

One technique for breaking out and generating innovative business, product, or service ideas is to get all of the external senses involved. Try filling colorful gift bags with small items of different textures, tastes, appearances, ingredients, sounds, and smells. In the brainstorming session, break into small groups of three or four people and give each group a bag. Have each group sort through the bag, imagining how the sensory aspects could be incorporated into a new product or other new idea. After about 20 minutes of digging through the bags, discussing, and writing down ideas, allow each group to present their ideas. You will find yourself with many more great ideas than you can execute.

Brainstorming via Trends

Another approach to brainstorming business ideas is to study trends. Business and general interest publications; the Internet; and trade journals can be effective brainstorming tools for several reasons:

– The general publications contain articles across several industries — and society in general — which is good for brainstorming new ideas that can apply to your own industry.

– Business publications often include a mix of short articles (good for brainstorming ideas based on what others outside your industry are doing) and in-depth reports (good for new product concept development based on trends).

– The Internet reflects trends on a real-time basis. Social bookmarking sites and blog directories (such as del.icio.us and Technorati), track and report the hottest topics. Wordtracker monitors online searches, reporting the top 100 daily.

– By skimming a variety of business related articles (news articles, features, human interest, and analytical pieces) you broaden your idea base, which results in more new product ideas.

No matter what your brainstorming techniques, remember two rules:

1) no censoring and

2) use your senses and current trends as springboards for new ideas. Do this and your brainstorming sessions are sure to be a success.

Don’t Focus on Being the Best, Focus on Being Unique

In a world where competition is the constant factor, it’s hard to differentiate and build your own identity. It’s difficult, but it is possible to be unique!

Effective differentiation is one of the main challenges many business owners face, because they focus on competing with big companies. Here are four ways to help your business be unique and stand out from the crowd. Each one of these factors has worked well for countless companies. How many of them are part of your current business strategy?

1. Deliver Extraordinary Service

This is what makes the most successful companies unique and different. However, saying isn’t enough. You must deliver an extraordinary service that your customers can’t get anywhere else.

If you want to beat your competitors, don’t focus on being the best; instead, focus on being unique. You can be unique and different if you think about offering extraordinary service to your customers that goes beyond what your competitors are offering.

2. Address Customer Needs

If you want to impress your customers, the best way to do that is to meet their needs and desires. Think about how you can solve common problems for your customers. This’ll help you stand out from the competition.

3. Do Business Differently from Your Competitors

Doing business differently than your competitors will help to be stand out. Find and exploit holes in your competitors’ business strategy; this is the best way to be unique.

Get into the habit of analyzing your competitors regularly. Find out the products/services they offer, how much they sell them for and how they run their company. This information can make your business stand out from the rest. For instance, if a competitor sells a product at a low price, you can lower your price.

Remember, your goal should be to give customers a reason to do business with you and this could be one way to help achieve this goal.

When looking at your competitor’s business strategy, don’t just copy what they have. Instead, focus on their weaknesses and see how you can improve on them. Being innovative will help your business become better and different. How you can do the same thing differently?

4. Give a Powerful Offer or Guarantee

Offers and guarantees are the best ways to reduce the perceived risk of buying your products/services. Removing the reluctance for making a purchase can generate more sales. Also, a guarantee will make your company seem more trustworthy and likable.

For instance, you can make sure you answer every email or social media query within one or two hours. This will improve your responsiveness, and it will give customers more reason to contact you and do business with you.

Innovation is a common characteristic among successful organizations. If your business is innovative and unique, it’ll grow fast. So, if you want to take your business to the next level, focus on being unique, and don’t copy your competitors’ business strategy.