What can you do to make sure anyone who encounters your business knows what makes it better, different or unique from your competitors?

What You Need Is a Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

To stand out in today’s competitive market, marketing and business development professionals need to focus on what’s unique and special about the business. What you need: A Unique Selling Proposition (USP)—a single statement that anyone can easily understand, a sentence that clearly defines what makes you better, different or unique.

Rosser Reeve http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosser_Reeves, a hugely successful advertising exec and pioneer of television advertising, describes a USP like this:

A unique message about the company vs. the competition that each business or brand should develop and use over and over again in its advertising, promotions and communication.

Be weary that this is not a slogan or phrase that will appear in your advertising—although it may appear occasionally. Instead, we’re focusing on the USP’s usefulness as a tool to help you focus on what your business is all about. (If what distinguishes you is price, that can be a USP, but it should be one of the last things one says about a company.)

The benefits of a properly constructed USP are many: if you’re able to concisely describe the uniqueness of your business, its products and services, and create excitement when you do it, you—and your businesss—will be easily distinguished from the pack.

So how do you begin? Here are five questions to consider:

1. What is unique about your business or brand versus your direct competitors? You’ll probably find a whole list of things that set you apart; the next questions will help you decide which of these to focus on.
2. Which of these factors are most important to the buyers and end-users of your business or brand?
3. Which of these factors are not easily imitated by competitors?
4. Which of these factors can be easily communicated and understood by buyers or end users?
5. Can you construct a memorable message (USP) of these unique, meaningful qualities about your business or brand?
6. Finally, how will you communicate this message (USP) to buyers and end users? Marketing tools to communicate USPs include media advertising, promotion programs (e.g., direct mail), packaging, and sales personnel.

Still having trouble generating one? Think about brands you’ve seen advertised on TV. What’s the underlying message of the ad? What are its themes? Attributes? Benefits?

For example, perfumes and liquor advertisements tend to rely on “borrowed values”—i.e. emotions—instead of strictly product features. Food products might also utilize borrowed values. Medicinal brands try to identify and promote unique features that provide more relief faster.

It’s also possible that you could have already developed a USP without realizing it. For example, if you decided to provide free delivery service to your customers because no one else in town is doing it, you’ve constructed a USP based on service that you are communicating to the intended target buyer. If, however, you offer free delivery service because everyone else in town does so and you need to provide it simply to keep up with the competition, it’s not something that sets you apart and should not be the focus of your USP.

Are you looking to develop a unique selling proposition? SPIA, Inc. can help. Check out our website to see what we can do for you, reach us at info@spiainc.com or by calling (978) 640-0803.

You can also follow us on Twitter: @CraigStimmel or check us out on Facebook.