Marketing Strategy 101: How to Develop a Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

Stand Out with a Unique Selling Proposition

Marketing is one of the most important priorities in your business. This is not something you can afford to delegate. Why? Because marketing is the voice of your business.

No one else can speak for you.

No one can communicate your passion or integrity.

There are certain things that you and you alone can bring to life for other people.

The most fundamental and critical part of your marketing strategy lies in the development of your Unique Selling Proposition (USP). There is no bigger priority when it comes to moving your business forward. Today’s competition is real, and this economy is presenting new challenges to remaining profitable. 

Developing a USP requires you to identify several things:

1. Your values, dreams, and passions
2. Your skills, talents, and abilities
3. Your preferred working styles based on your personality tendencies

Your USP is like your fingerprint. It’s a one-of-a-kind. I don’t care how many people are in the industry you work in. You might be a relationship coach, a graphic designer, an attorney, or an educator. Others may have the same professional skill, but NO ONE smells like you. The blending of your character, personality, and life experience is completely unique. That translates into your business as well. No one brings the exact same assets to the table as you.

When you combine your unique skills, your values and passions, your experiences, and your personality tendencies — you are an original. A MASTERPIECE. Who you are and what you do cannot be duplicated.

Your business is an extension of who you are.

Marketing (in the minds of some people) has gotten a bad name because of the numbers of people who use their ability to persuade as a means to manipulate the truth. REAL marketing is the use of communication to help your prospect or customer to become aware of the value you deliver, and to make a decision that is in their best interest.

I firmly believe that each and every one of us has been placed here with gifts and talents that others are supposed to benefit from. The problem is, many people will never benefit from your gifts if they don’t know who you are or what you can do. It’s true, it is better to give than to receive. Marketing is one of the ways we communicate to others about what we have to give.

Wouldn’t it be a shame if you are truly at the top of your game, and one of the best in your field, but only a relative few get to benefit from your value because of poor communication (marketing)?

My pastor, Bishop Wellington Boone, has made a point to teach our church about having a mindset of TOTAL DOMINATION. In that series, he talks about how God placed us here and gave us a mandate to rule and to take dominion.

I agree. I know that God’s intent for each and every person on this earth is that we rise to the highest level of productivity and excellence possible in order to walk in His likeness and fulfill destiny. What we do as small business owners is included in that mandate. No matter what the field or industry, we should have it as a goal to rise to the top and be a pace-setter.

For the independent professional, it means maximizing your potential as you serve your prospects and clients.

Here are four steps to take as you endeavor to come up with  a compelling  USP:

1. Take a personal inventory of your values, dreams, passions, skills, talents, and abilities. Consider why you went into business in the first place. Your story for why you got started is oftentimes a very important piece of the puzzle. How does your personality contribute to your uniqueness? Are you good at making people laugh? Humor can be a great asset. Maybe you’re a great listener. Don’t overlook anything.
2. Survey your team members in the same way. People who have been with you for a while will have significant contributions to make to the overall value proposition that you offer.
3. Do a competitive evaluation of other businesses in your marketplace. Who else shows up on the 1st page of Google for the keywords that represent your products and services? What do they offer their customers? How have they positioned themselves in comparison to others within your industry? What do they say about themselves? Is there a consistent message on their website (if they have one)?
4. Take all those things into consideration as you develop your value proposition. Your USP should be something that you can say in about 30 seconds. Once you develop the core statement, you will want to pull out a tag-line, a one minute version, a five minute version, a 15 minute version, and so on. The key is to be able to consistently communicate the core benefits that give prospects and customers reasons to do business with you. Once the statement is complete…be sure to include it in all of your marketing and advertising efforts.

Remember, if there is no distinguishing benefit to doing business with you when compared to your competitors, the lowest bidder wins!

If you are interested in learning more about developing a compelling USP, and improving your process of getting and keeping clients, give me some feedback in terms of your specific questions, and I will do my best to answer them on my upcoming teleseminar next week.

You can submit your questions at www.AskRamon.com.

Make it a great day!