As a business owner, it pays to stand out against the crowd. You can do that with a funny mascot, huge advertising budget or catchy jingle. All of those things are swell, but one of the easiest ways to set your business apart from the crowd is to come up with a unique selling proposition (USP).
Your USP is basically an explanation of why your business is unique and a great fit for your customers. It plays a huge part in beating out the competition, especially if you are selling a common product or service. Here are a few tips on defining your USP:
Consider Your Audience
In order to promote what is unique about your company, you should know what your customers are looking for. Take a good look at the demographics and psychographics of the group that you are selling to. Are they focused on price? Quality? Materials? Aesthetics? The more you know about you audience, the more focused and relevant you can make your USP.
Consider More Than Your Product
Some small businesses may struggle with the problem that they have a very common business. There are plenty of plumbers out there. There are plenty of companies that sell tea. But when coming up with your USP, there is a lot more to consider than just the product or service. Perhaps it is your talented customer service team with decades of experience and enough patience to walk your customers through the buying process. Or perhaps it is that you only work with materials that come from the United States. Or maybe it’s that your company has been in your family for the last 100 years. Dig deep and find what makes your company one-of-a-kind.
Consider Multiple Benefits
If you’ve got more than one point in your USP, make sure you share! While you don’t want a list two pages long of all of the unique details of your company, give credit where credit is due. If you’re making a unique product AND that product is helping the economy because it is made out of local materials, be sure to make both of those details clear!
Do Competitive Research
In order for you to say that you are better than the competition, you have to know what the competition is bringing to the table. Make sure you dedicate time to do thorough competitive research so that you have the knowledge to back up your USP. Looking at what similar companies chose for their USP can also help you decide what might be important to customers in your industry.
Your business is as unique as you are. That’s why it’s important to be able to explain this to your customers, so that they know WHY they should choose you over the other guys. But if you’d still like to write a catchy jingle or choose a giant duck as your mascot to stand out, go right ahead!