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Part One: Defining and Redefining the USP
When starting a small business in 2024, there are certain logistics you need to have in place. Things like a website, at least one social media account, a way to accept online payments, and so on.
But one of the most crucial components every new business owner needs is often something a lot of people skip.
That's because they either make it way more complicated than it needs to be – or, they didn’t know what the heck it was.
So in this three-part series, we’re going to talk about your Unique Selling Proposition:
What it is, what it does, and how to write the perfect one for your small business.
1. Do you need to have a USP?
Every business, from solo-preneurs to large-scale mega-corporations, needs to have a USP.
At the very least, it will help you write your company's social media profile or your homepage's meta description.
Ideally, it will serve as the foundation upon which all of your superbly targeted, super personalized, solutions-based marketing messages are expertly crafted.
2. Why is a USP important?
According to the US Small Business Administration, there are over 33 million small businesses in America, with a recent average of over 5 million new businesses starting every year.
...That does not mean, "Give up now."
It does mean you’ll have to work harder to make your business stand out so people can find you, like you, buy from you, and stay with you longer.
And that’s where your Unique Selling Proposition – or ‘USP’ comes in.
It’s what connects you with your ideal customer and leverages your brand above your competitors.
This ensures that the first touchpoint your customer has with your business is a good, accurate and lasting one. And, one that drives them to the next step in considering you as the preferred option over others.
Without it, you risk watering down your message in an already over-saturated market.
Or worse yet, giving the impression that you have no message.
>>> Queue Regina King as Marcee Tidwell in Jerry Maguire famously stating, "Well you know a lot of agents say a lot of shit, so what do you stand for?" <<<
Now, "what you stand for" is more like your UVP - your Unique Value Proposition, or more practically, your guiding principles, or Mission and Values statement.
Your USP should convey why you are better than the next guy.
It’s a positioning tool. Your competitive edge.
It’s like the 15-second elevator answer to the question, “What do you do?” only it includes, "Why should I care?"
So it's not quite the same as your brand story, your voice, your logo, your backstory or your motto, but these things are all intricately tied together.
...Or at least, they should be.
3. What is a USP?
Simply put, your Unique Selling Proposition, or USP, is a phrase that explains ‘what makes your business unique,’ or ‘why people should buy from you over your competition.’
It's a complete 180 from your mom's advice to not compare yourself with others and actually encourages you to thoroughly examine your brand side-by-side with other brands to see what the core differences are.
The goal is to see where you stand out and where your competition has you beat. This way, you can promote what is working for you and avoid what's not.
Most marketers use some form of a Venn diagram to illustrate the point.
One circle is what your business does well and the other circle is what your competitor does well.
The third, most important circle, which sits atop both of them is:
What does your customer actually want?
A lot of entrepreneurs and startups skip over this step as well.
But it is crucial to the success of your marketing. So be sure to spend some time making sure this circle is as accurate and specific as it can be.
We’ll get into how to develop your target audience, or your ideal customer avatar later. For now, think about this circle as the general wants and needs of people who will be purchasing your product.
Where your brand’s offerings and that circle of desires overlap is your sweet spot.
Or, your unique selling proposition.
Now, let's stop here for a second.
Before we get into how to properly fill in this Venn diagram, I want to get over some semantic hurdles and clarify what your USP is NOT.
We'll call this "redefining" process the Psychological Step One, or:
4. What to do before writing your USP
Because most people, after seeing the "How to Write Your USP Venn diagram," will dive right into their list-making.
And to their detriment, many will start with their own company.
But in my opinion, if you just start blindly writing down what you think you’re supposed to say, researching industry buzzwords on Google, and randomly guessing what you think people want, you’re gonna totally end up missing the mark.
Your USP should not read like an AI-generated list of ingredients.
Nor should it serve as a super wide blanket you hope catches the most amount of customers.
Your Unique Selling Proposition has to come directly from the heart of your business, penetrate the noisy muck of your competition and perfectly stick the landing in front of your future clients so they won’t even consider looking around to see what else is out there.
This means more time should be spent thinking, preparing and refining than writing.
It's why Olympic athletes spend years training for what amounts to a few make-or-break minutes.
Your business's first impression is a lot like that.
Truth is, most people HATE trying to come up with their USP.
Very likely, it's because of the psychological triggers of every one of the words that make up a Unique Selling Proposition.
And let’s face it, if you hate everything about doing something, it's not going to be any fun or any good.
The purpose of this three-part series is to overcome the obstacles that prevent you from seeing things through a clear, unbiased lens, and help you focus on what matters.
You've heard of beer goggles and rose-colored glasses before.
Think of this as throwing on your marketing shades.
Avoid the glare of what's not working, block the rays of your competitors advantages, and concentrate on your customer without the squint of guesswork.
We'll first do this by breaking it down and redefining the USP to put you in a better headspace.
First word. Two syllables.
5. UNIQUE
Ask anyone who’s ever had to come up with a dating app profile and most will agree: It’s hard to pinpoint what it is about you that makes you so rare and wonderful and different from everybody else that you earn a super selective swipe right.
People struggle with it all the time.
So let me share with you right now, unique does NOT mean ‘I and only I offer this product or service and no one in the world has ever thought of it before nor will they ever again.’
Take it from me and the Book of Ecclesiastes: “There is no new thing under the sun.”
What makes something unique is the flavor that you bring to it.
It’s not what you do, it’s how you do it.
This ties into your brand voice and is the #1 reason why millions of companies can all sell the same thing and have very different results.
You’ll hear this expressed in a few ways.
“People don’t buy products, they buy brands” or “they buy stories” or “benefits” or even "better versions of themselves."
Lately, you’ll hear, “People don’t buy what you’re selling, they buy why you’re selling.”
We’ll actually go into this one a bit more in the next blog, or Step Two in the series -- so stand by for more on that topic.
Now, unlike a dating app profile, your ultimate USP is NOT going to be “about you.”
It’s about the client.
But in the initial or pre-planning stages of coming up with what makes you or your product unique, it’s important to brainstorm all of the features and benefits you offer so you can determine which are the most important and why.
Now, to be clear, a feature is a detail that your product or service possesses while a benefit is a solution to a problem that your customer has.
For example, instead of saying:
>> "We serve healthy, pre-packaged meals at a low price."
You might say:
>> "Fuel your busy day with grab-and-go convenience that’s light on the calories and on the wallet."
...But more on the features-to-benefits hack later.
For now, it’s back to the next icky word in USP:
6. SELLING
Nobody wants to SELL anything (or at least, the people I wanna work with don’t).
They want to help people or provide a product or service that will in some way benefit their consumer.
We have no problem making money and certainly want people to pay us for what we do, but for some reason, the word SELL makes us feel sleazy.
So let’s change it right now.
Instead of SELLING, think VALUE.
Think "worth," or "energy exchange."
>> What am I bringing to the situation that justifies the expenditure of their hard-earned time, money and trust?
>> What suffering do I alleviate or problems do I solve for this person?
>> How am I helping make this person’s life better?
That’s how you transform a bland list of quantifiable features into a qualitative bevy of emotionally-saturated solutions.
Cause at the end of the day if you’re in the business of selling, you’re in the wrong business, whatever it is.
Be in the business of serving or solving.
Retrain your brain to ask not "what am I selling," but "how am I serving" and "what problems am I solving?"
Because if you can’t answer the question, "What can you do for me?" with a practical problem-solution formula, you’re not gonna be able to do much.
The best salespeople in the world know exactly how to align everything they say and do with that very concept.
It's not sorcery. It's smart. And it works. A lot.
Last but not least:
7. PROPOSITION
Again, feels slimy.
Even in the business context of "I have a proposition for you," it sounds like "Heyyy, let’s make a deal," "let’s ne-go-ti-ate."
Plus, the Oxford Dictionary says that as a verb it means “make a suggestion of sex to, especially in an unsubtle or offensive way.”
Which is not something you want associated with your business.
...Unless you're in the adult entertainment or companionship industry. In which case... maybe.
Now some marketers say the 'P' is plural and stands for "points." Your "unique selling points," rather than your one-sentence, overarching elevator speech or company mantra.
And that’s helpful too.
Especially if you’re launching a new campaign or product.
Because that will have its own unique selling points, and this exercise can be useful to brainstorm messaging for that as well.
Either way, we can say that the ‘P’ in your USP is like a pointed proclamation used for positioning.
A pitch, or presentation to your primary audience about the products you’re providing and why they should purchase them.
It’s your main RTB, or ‘reason to buy,’ another three-letter acronym marketers love to throw around.
It is NOT a dirty innuendo or slimy bait-and-switch tactic.
8. Next Steps
The psychological Step One of nailing your perfect USP is completely redefining it to bypass all of those mental barriers that can prevent you from writing a good one.
We just spent the last few paragraphs on this, so let's review:
We are no longer "trying to figure out how to write your unique selling proposition."
We are strategically positioning your brand’s solutions-based worth.
Now "positioning" in this case means "in contrast to."
So the practical Step One, which logically stems from this, is:
Understanding what your competitors do well.
To do this, we will conduct a brief Competitor Analysis.
This will help to:
Identify who your main competitors are
Understand what they do well, and
Uncover the areas of opportunity that exist in the market for your brand.
The practical application from this exercise will be creating that list of features and benefits you and your brand offer, after having seen what other brands in your industry are best known for.
Step Two will be figuring out your "X-Factor," which in many ways happens to be your WHY-factor.
Step Three will be all about getting to know your ideal customer and then determining how the rare and wonderful benefits your brand boasts can make their lives better.
So stay tuned and let me know if you have any questions by texting or calling me at (310) 817-0472, or emailing kim@kiminyourcorner.com.
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