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Differentiate and Grow Rich:
The Importance of a Strong USP
by Eric Graham
“With 50 other companies selling the
same products and services, why should I do business with you rather
than one of your competitors?”
The number of competitors you face as an online
merchant grows daily. If you can’t answer that one question, it’s
only a matter of time before you go out of business.
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If you can answer that question and answer it clearly, communicating
it to your prospective customers in everything you do, your road
to eCommerce success is paved with gold!
Your USP or Unique Selling Proposition answers
that most critical question. If you have studied business for very
long you’ve
probably read or heard about the importance of having a strong, clear
USP. However, it doesn’t take much surfing online to see that
few companies listen. Most know that they need a USP, they just don’t
know how to develop one.
The process of developing your Unique Selling
Proposition is fairly simple (note that I didn’t say easy.) I conduct intensive on-site
USP development workshops for my clients around the world. By doing
these workshops I’ve discovered 4 critical steps to developing
your USP.
First, study your competition. Search online for potential competitors.
Pick the top 5 to 10 and try to determine their USP. Most will lack
a clear USP, for these look for some of the features or services
that they stress.
Now look for the gap in their products or services. What area of
the market could we better service?
Second, examine you own business. Sit down and brainstorm with your
staff
possible USP concepts. Don’t judge the ideas, just write them
down. To stimulate thought and ideas ask the following questions:
- What do we do the best?
- What do we do better than our competition?
- What awards have we won?
- What do our customers say about us?
- What praise do we often get from our customers?
- What celebrities or well know organizations endorse us?
- What endorsements could we get?
- What does our product or service do better than anyone else?
- What makes our business model different from our competition?
- How could we make it different?
- What market category or niche could our industry better service?
It also helps at this stage to interview and survey your current
and past
customers. Ask them why they bought from you rather than your competition?
What do they want from a provider of your product or service? What’s
important to them when making a buying decision? What feature or
benefits do they value most or would like to see added to your product
or service?
Third, begin to write down and crystallize
your ideas. Don’t
worry about length at first, just write down the key points of your
USP concept. Focus on the benefits to your customer of each concept.
Develop a list of 5 to 10 possible USPs.
Show this list to your staff, friends, family and current customers.
Get their input and suggestions and use these suggestions and comments
to narrow your USP concept down to a single main differentiating
concept.
Once you’ve settled on the most unique and compelling feature
of your product or business, begin to distill it down to one paragraph
that clearly communicates and sums up why your customers should buy
from you. Use this paragraph on your website or in your print marketing
materials where you have more room to explain the unique benefits
that you bring to your customers. However, it’s still too long
to for an effective tag line or slogan.
You still need to distill your USP down to one or two focused sentences
that
clearly and concisely communicate the benefits of your USP to your
customers. This statement should leave no question in your customers
mind about what you do and what makes you different than your competition.
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