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Match Your Message To Your Market - A Unique Selling Proposition

Written by: Jonathan Hook

Article Overview: When some people hear the term unique Selling Proposition (USP), they think of their company slogan or tag line or something trite. What a lot of business owners don't realize is that a good USP can make or break a business. It goes much deeper than a few words in an ad.

Match Your Message To Your Market - A Unique Selling Proposition

When some people hear the term unique Selling Proposition (USP), they think of their company slogan or tag line or something trite. What a lot of business owners don't realize is that a good USP can make or break a business. It goes much deeper than a few words in an ad. To start off, let's understand what a USP is. A good Unique Selling Proposition should answer the question "Why should I do business with you, now, above any and all other options available?" Now, think about that for a minute. If you can't answer that question - and you own the business - then why should a prospect even consider bringing you their business?

It goes even deeper than that though. A good USP is going to come from actually talking to your customers to find out what they want. You want to make sure that you match your message to your market. What good does it do if you stand on the street corner offering people black umbrellas if they are all looking for red ones? Oh, you may sell some because you are there, you may see a small increase in sales if it is raining out, but what if you actually had exactly what your customer was looking for? The only way you can do this is to first know what it is that your customer wants.

A Unique Selling Proposition should also be, well, unique to your business. Do you know what your competitors are doing? What are they known for? Do something different, stand out. A consulting client once was working on his USP. They were an industrial parts supplier. Once we went through the process of building a USP, we found that one competitor had a huge warehouse and high inventory levels - their USP was that they had everything you could need. So we decided not to compete on stock. Turned out what his customers were looking for could be oiled down to one word - reliability. This company had been in business for over 30 years, had a good reputation in their marketplace and we were able to build on that. They customers wanted parts - the right parts, good quality parts, delivered on time. Once we found that out, we had a place to work from.

When you start the process of coming up with your USP, be prepared to actually make changes to your business to support it. See, a USP is not just something you say, it is not even something you do, something you are. When you can become what your customers want, you win. In my example above, it would do no good to claim the USP of reliability if orders were being shipped incomplete or late or with poor parts. You have to be able to deliver on your USP. It becomes a point that you can build your business around. It must be reflected in your appearance, your presentation, your customer service, your sales people, your post-sales follow up, etc.

Find out what your market wants and deliver it consistently. Find something that you can focus on that will set you apart from your competition and have your message meet your market. Just that can turn your business around.

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Article Tags: black umbrellas, business owners, company slogan, competitor, few words, good reputation, inventory levels, marketplace, reliability, stock, tag line, unique selling proposition, unique selling proposition usp, what your competitors



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Re: This is Marketing Warfare! - Hey GT, I guess this was from a while back, and it'll test your memory a bit but could you possibly elaborate on Unique Selling Proposition? Can you give us some examples of good USPs?
Re: Readers, Money or SEO? Which comes first? - [quote="WebBizIdeas.com":35az7o03]Hi Chris, Do you have any great PR strategies to share? [/quote:35az7o03] Be different. Its hard to promote anything that doesn't have strong Unique Selling Points. Read 'Purple Cow' by Seth Godin for inspiration and why good PR and promotion starts with a great product. As a publisher, our content is a significant part of our product lineup. Following that you need to reach out and network with influencers. I've managed to get mainstream press coverage a few times in the past, but I'm certainly not an expert on this though and I'm always learning.
Re: Those Annoying Telemarketers - When I was making phone calls I received 2 different messages that really stood out... Message 1: "We can't come to the phone right now. If you're a telemarketer please remove this number from your records. All other calls...." I never bothered to hear the rest because I wasn't allowed leaving messages anyway. I had to actually talk to the person. Message 2: "This phone number is protected by Embarq Privacy Services (something like that). Please leave your name, phone number and reason for call, and the party you're trying to reach will determine if the call is important to them." I summarized, but you get the point. Embarq is a local phone company. I don't know if it's available nationwide or not. That's a new one on me, though. I utilize caller ID on my cell. Unless it's a local number, I don't bother to answer. If it's important enough they'll leave a message. I use my cell for online and offline business since it has these capabilities as well as voicemail. Gotta love technology.
Re: How should i promote a new website? - ignore this message IF it's already been stated. I haven't had a chance to read all the replies and i have to jet from the office... I suggest marketing where ever your Target Market congregates. If it's a forum of concerned parents - go there. Strike up a deal with the forum owner (JV) and have him promote it to the list of members (Integration Marketing). If you want to go with Forums then i would partner with a parent who is a frequent poster/moderator on a particular Target Market Forum and have him/her add your link to their signature. That was just a thought but it's not as intense once you get buy in from the Forum owner or high ranked poster/moderator. Hope that sparks some new ideas.
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