Why Bother Having a Unique Selling Proposition?

If I asked you,

“Why should I do business with you?”

What would be your reply?

That question is more difficult to answer than you may think, unless you’ve sat down and analysed why your customers do business with you.

Some of you may say it’s because ‘we’ve been around 50 years’, ‘we are a National company with a large fleet of vehicles’, ‘we’re large enough to cope but small enough to care’, ‘we provide a personal service’, ‘we use cutting edge technology’……

But these are actually not the reasons why your customers are attracted to do business with you. All these typical answers have one thing in common – they all begin with the word WE.

   But Your Prospective Customers Don’t Care About You!

Let’s face it. Customers don’t care about you or your company. They don’t care how long you’ve been in business or how great you are. Maybe after becoming a long-term customer and valuing what you do for them, and establishing a personal relationship with you, then and only then, may they care about you!

All your customers really care about is themselves and that all important question, “What’s in it for me? How do I benefit? What is the ultimate advantage I get from interacting with you?”

You must therefore give prospects a compelling reason to buy from you rather than from someone else. That’s why you have to come up with a Unique Selling Proposition.

If you don’t have a USP message for your business then you need to sit down and create one, as it’s really the starting point for all your marketing.

To summarise –
Why Is A Good USP Marketing Gold?

• It enables you to stand out in the mind of the consumer
• It elevates you above your competition (particularly when they don’t have one!)
• A USP lets you be heard more easily

When Creating a USP Consider The Following:

• You must be memorable
• Many people suggest being outrageous
• You must claim unique and overt benefits
• Your message must reveal exactly how you are unique from the competition
• It doesn’t have to be summed up in one sentence – it can be expanded into a paragraph if that’s what it takes to get the message across.

A great example is FedEx’s USP-

“When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight”

Or Domino’s Pizza’s –

“Hot fresh pizza delivered in less than 30 minutes or less – guaranteed”

Domino’s Pizza promised the customer an experience that was rare in the home delivery market place. (It doesn’t promise the best tasting, homemade flavour; just that it will be there in 30 minutes or less).

Little Caesar’s said you would get two pizzas for the price of one
“Pizza, Pizza” and Papa John’s USP was that they made their sauce from scratch.

Qualities of a good USP are:

1. It boldly telegraphs the promise of big benefits for the customer

2. It claims you are unique and dramatically different

3. Being focused, it doesn’t try to appeal to everyone

4. It addresses the important, relevant customer concerns

5. It is short and simple. Concise, memorable and easy to communicate

6. Interesting or exciting – it grabs attention

7. Persuasive, motivating and compelling. It prompts customers to act

8. It penetrates all aspects of your business, which totally support it

9. It must be economically feasible so that it can support a business

An effective way of creating ideas to use when crafting your USP is to ask yourself the following questions:

• Why were you motivated to start your business in the first place – what problem did you set out to address with your business?

• Finish this sentence – “I am most proud of our ability to….”

• What would your most loyal customers boast about you?

• What’s the first thing customers think of when they hear your business name?

• Finish these sentences –

“We’re the best/first/only company to offer….” and “Unlike our competition, we offer our customers…”  “Our company enhances people’s lives by…”

• What frustrations in dealing with your type of business, do you take away from customers so they don’t have that hassle, headache, fear or worry when they deal with you as compared to others?

 

OK, once you’ve got a USP what do you do with it?

All promotional activity should convey your USP in some way. You need to entwine it into everything you say and do, from content on your website to adverts to messages on your packing material – even the way you answer the telephone.

Best regards,

Richard

For more help and advice regarding how you can implement powerful common-sense marketing strategies, contact sally@common-sense-marketing.com or call her on 01692 538800.

If you would like help creating a unique USP for your business, why not join my Marketing Mastermind Club and get one of my team to help you.

Click here to see the details for this low cost, subscription based resource  http://www.marketing-mastermind-club.co.uk

 

For more free marketing, advice, reports and strategies visit
www.common-sense-marketing.com

Blog written by Richard Lomax, Marketing Consultant,
Richard Lomax & Associates
Tel: 01692 538800, email: sally@common-sense-marketing.com