A unique selling proposition (USP) is what defines your company’s unique position in the market. It’s a crucial ingredient not only to your pricing decisions but to creating a business that customers will genuinely love.
Also, a knockout USP lets your business stand out from the crowd. It identifies what makes your brand better and why your target customers should choose you over the rest.
Today, we’re here to provide you an easy step-by-step process to creating your very own USP.
Identify your target audience
Before you can even start with your marketing campaigns, you need to have a clear idea of who you are targeting.
Finding your ideal customer may take quite a bit of legwork. But when you’ve finally identified the perfect person to sell to, it makes sense to appeal to them in every aspect. In this step, you would want to be as specific (targeted) as possible.
For example, Abercrombie & Fitch identify their ideal clients as “good-looking, cool people” and has even publicly said that the brand refuses to market to anyone who doesn’t belong in that group.
Explain the problem you solve
The next step is to identify your target customers’ pain points and explain how your product will solve those problems.
Remember that consumers don’t “purchase” products. They want a solution to their problems. Think about how will their lives be improved.
Take the cosmetics industry, for example. Cosmetics companies don’t just sell makeup. They sell lifestyle ideals (incl. style, glamour, and confidence). People who may not feel stylish, glamorous, or confident will feel so if they purchase the products. The concept could easily apply to other industries too.
What makes you different
As many market strategists would say, focus on identifying what makes your solution different AND better than your competitors. The value you define here will be one of the key reasons why your customers will choose you instead of somebody else.
List three to five of the most significant benefit a customer gets from choosing your product. Again, putting yourself in their shoes, explain who your product is essential to them and why they should choose you over a competitor.
Define your promise
A crucial part of every successful USP is pledging to your customers. In this step, you’ll write down the promise that you make to your customers. Combine the essential elements of the earlier stages into a concise statement that embodies the actual value of your product.
Combine and cut down
Once you’ve completed the steps above, it’s now time to combine all the elements into one paragraph. You’ll want to start merging statements and rewriting in a way that it’s cohesive and makes sense.
If you see the need further to trim down the paragraph into two or three sentences, do so. Your final USP should be specific and straightforward as possible.
A perfect USP takes time to make. Take your time and do several drafts over and over until you have a USP that will knock the ball out of the park.
Now you know the steps to creating a winning USP. Ask yourself today: Does your business have a USP?