Without a doubt the question I get asked most from my community is ‘how do I make my business or website unique”. In marketing terms, this is known as the unique selling proposition, or USP. You may have also heard it expressed as your point of difference (POD).
It doesn’t matter what you call it, the point is, differentiating your business from others and defining your USP could be one of the most important decisions will need to make about your business.
Your unique selling proposition is what makes your business stand out. It’s what makes you different and earns you a special place in the minds of your potential customers.
Being clear on how your business stands out from the crowd, and is different from all the others in your industry, will allow you to create a continual flow of clients and customers who will become raving fans. And raving fans will happily promote your services to their friends and beyond, because they love what you do.
Without an effective USP you will continually struggle to attract lots of your ideal client and it will be even harder to get people to pay attention to what it is that you are saying.
If you consider this from your prospects point of view, there are so many options out there for them to do business. You have to answer their question, “why should I buy from you?” Or, “why should I read your blog, when there are millions of other blogs I could be reading?”
If you don’t give them a great reason why, your potential customers or readers will move on. It’s as simple as that.
Your USP can mean the difference between success and failure.
Different is Better Than Best
Chances are there are others in your industry that offer the same or similar types of services or products as you. This is a good thing, because it means that while there is competition, there are also grounds that your niche has sufficient demand for your business to have potential success.
The mistake people often make though is they think that having a great product or superb content is enough of a difference to make your business stand out. In most markets, this is not so. Having great products and content simply earns you the right to be in the industry.
As a newbie, or smaller business, it’s hard to compete on product or content quality alone. You want to aim to change the conversation instead to “Hey, look at me, I have great stuff too,” you want to confidently say, “Hey, I’m all about X, we do things differently. If you’re into X, we’re the only place you can get it.”
The secret is that you don’t want to necessarily be seen as being the best. Instead, you become the best at something no one else is doing in the same way as you.
That’s the power of a unique selling proposition. You want to be the best at something, but you can make it far easier if you define your competitors yourself.
Attracting more customers isn’t something you can simple work on occasionally. It’s something you focus on at every stage of your business, and your unique selling proposition is the first stage.
How to Find Your Unique Selling Proposition
So, I hope that you have realized your USP is important, so the next question is “How do I find mine?”
Whether it is traffic to your website, or clients in your door, it all starts with your story. From where have you come to be at the point you are at now? Often it is because of some personal life experiences that you ended up doing what you are doing now. It might be a lifelong passion to help others in a certain area of expertise or learning as a result of your own learning. Perhaps you have developed an intense desire to help others as a result of people you know, or things you have a strong belief in. This leads in to how you care for your customers and carries on through to your content, products and relationships you create with your client community. Put this all together, and this becomes your promotion.
You can approach this in many different ways. Your USP might end up being a combination of things I have just listed. Be sure that there are no right or wrongs here. And depending on what business you’re in, even a small amount of differentiation could lead to a much greater shot at success.
Here are a few simple ways to differentiate your business. These aren’t the only ways, but it’s a starting point to get you thinking.
Clearly Define Your Target Market and Ideal Client
Most people are afraid of narrowing down their target market for fear of losing potential customers. But consider this. Let’s say you are a web designer and you become a web designer for electricians, or a plumber for high rise buildings, or write about online marketing strategies for nutritionist.
Take a look at this from the customers’ viewpoint. If you were a nutritionist and needed help with online marketing, wouldn’t you be inclined to choose the business that specializes in nutritionists?
The other benefit of specializing in a narrow market segment is that promotion becomes much easier. You know where to find nutritionists together at conferences and where they hang out online, so you know how to target them.
Develop Your Personality
It is most likely that your personal story is how you develop your personality. If you are in small business then it can often be your personality alone that can make your business different. You will have different values, beliefs, use of the language than someone else. These things all go towards making your business unique from another.
By recognizing this and putting your personal stamp on many aspects of your business, there will be people that will resonate with your personality (there is only one you, after all). In this way alone, you create something that no one else can directly compete with.
Evaluate Your Strengths
Consider that the benefits of your product or service and decide what differentiates it from other solutions available to your clients. Is it the value your provide, your experience, your results, delivery speed and so on? Work on quantifying the differences as much as possible.
Analyse Your Market
Find out which benefits are most crucial to your target prospects. What benefits do they appreciate most and which do they actively look for?
I would love to know all about your business and whether you have discovered your USP. Leave me your comments here.
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