Last week I wrote about why a Unique Selling Proposition is important as the foundation of your marketing strategy. You don’t want to spend money on marketing until you have your USP developed. After you read this week’s blog, you’ll know exactly how to create yours.
Your uniqueness can be a real or perceived difference in one of 7 areas: Quality—Price—Service—Delivery—Speed—Convenience—or Experience. To discover and craft yours, think deeply about your industry, market, competition, and your own processes. To uncover your USP, click here to access my “USP and Guarantee Creation Tool” that’ll guide your thought process through these 7 areas:
Competition—what they do well and poorly, how they’re unique, where they’re located Industry—changes in the last 5 years, expected changes in the next year, service standards Ideal Scenario—what one thing, if you could guarantee it, would make you the market leader Market—typical customers, what’s important to them, is your market growing or diminishing? Niche—current and ideal customer, what you do that no one else does Customer—what they say about you, why they buy from you, their frustrations Guarantee—what would relieve your customer’s frustrations, putting it all together…
One of the fastest ways to create a perceived difference is to tell the market HOW you do what you do. Marketing is about perceptions–you may be the same as your competition but you can market HOW you do what you do as a point of difference. Look at the oft-told story of Claude Hopkins and Schlitz Beer…
Schlitz was falling behind the competition and hired legendary advertiser Hopkins to help. His first step was to deeply understand the industry, the company, and the product. He learned that they started with water from 4000-foot wells they’d dug to get the purest water, they used yeast only from the same mother yeast cell that had undergone 1200 experiments to get the best flavor, they cooled the beer in a tedious process in rooms of filtered air, they passed it through costly whitewood pulp filters, they cleaned every pump and pipe twice a day, and they sterilized each bottle four times.
After Hopkins concluded that Schlitz’s advertising should tell people about all these purification steps, the Schlitz people replied that all brewing companies do it about the same way. He convinced them that the first one to tell the public about it can turn it into a successful USP and he went on to create an advertising campaign that took Schlitz to #1 in 6 months.
Chances are, many of your competitors’ USP’s make “undistinguishing” claims in their advertising…boring statements of motherhood and apple pie:
- Our systems are the fastest in the industry
- We have the friendliest team of people
- We use only natural ingredients
- We have access to the lowest prices
- Our engineers have the most experience
Hopkins didn’t tell people Schlitz’ beer was pure… he showed them! Here are more examples:
We have a unique 9-step inspection program to insure you get the right part every time
We have 28 different coffees and teas just so you and your friends enjoy your time with us
We’re not just the best plumbing company in town—we’re the only one certified in XYZ and QRS –or– we’re the only one who offers a no-hassle, money-back guarantee –or—we’re the only ones who concentrate 100% on drains –or– we’re the only ones who donate $.05 of every dollar to the House of Light for Children
For more USP examples, click here for my “USP and Guarantee Creation Tool.”
If you’d like to hear more about how to create your USP, register now to attend my FREE webinar, “The Foundation for a Guaranteed Strong Marketing ROI” on Nov. 7 at 12:30 pm EST.
In just 60 minutes you’ll…
- Find that “sweet spot” that your competition knows nothing about & use it to instantly attract new clients
- Find out the quickest & surest way to become UNIQUE in your market & DOMINATE your competition.
- Discover how to find your niche market & watch your revenue skyrocket while you work fewer & fewer hours
You can also book a free 30-minutes consultation with me. You’ll come with questions and leave with great ideas that will propel your company to new profit levels. Book now.
