How to Find Your USP
“What makes your business unique?” is the most asked question when you pitch someone about it. In Marketing terms, they are asking about your Unique Selling Point/Proposition, USP. The USP is not about being the best, it is about being different. It is important to know what differentiates your brand from the competitors. Let’s find your USPs that resonate with your audience!
What is a USP?
A USP is the unique feature of your product/service which helps you to stand out from competitors. It is a factor that binds consumers and triggers their loyalty towards your brand. The audience is the main focus.
Why you need to find your USPs that resonate with your audience
Making life easy for consumers will help you connect with them in a better way. People are overloaded with information about different businesses every day. To help them organise and position your brand in their minds accordingly, a USP is needed.
How to Find your USPs that resonate with your audience in a couple of steps according to Business.com
- Brainstorming ideas
Finding the right USP concerns every department of a company. Differentiating your business departments from the competitors is important, e.g. better customer service, better pricing, more experience, …
- Identifying the audience
Businesses have to understand and identify the right target audience to be effective and efficient. The information about age, location, gender, earning levels and other characteristics help to build buyer personas. The more specific the persona is, the more understanding can be developed.
Remember:
While creating a USP it might seem like you are leaving out some customers, however, this is normal. Your business should have a narrowed target audience. You cannot please everyone, and if you try to do so, you will end up pleasing no one. The main goal is finding your USPs that resonate with your audience.
- Analysing competitors
Before going into a market, you need to understand the market and what is already available. To be able to stand out from competitors you need to find something which they are not doing. Benchmarking is the most important tool to compare your business to the ones which already exist in the market and finding a competitive advantage for your business.
- Understanding the weaknesses and strengths of your own business
A SWOT/TOWS-Analysis should be done to understand the internal situation of the company to see its capabilities. You cannot promise your customers a specific feature and end up not being capable of keeping it.
- Forming a USP
With the information gathered from the analyses, a USP can be formed and translated into the right words. It should be clear and understandable and show what is really making you different from your competitors. Words are important as they are saved in the memory of the consumers even if they are stored in their unconscious mind.
After finding your USP you should try to test and refine it. This can be done by interviewing a couple of customers and asking them their opinion about it. Through this you can see if your USP is resonating with your audience. Testing can help you to find out the positioning of your brand and choose the right positioning statement:
- What business you are in
- Your target group
- Your USP
- How to keep your value proposition
Summed up
Initially, the USP should be answering the question “Why should I choose your company”. The USP is the core personality of your business and is the reason why consumers are willing to pay you instead of your competitor. Consistency is important so the USP should be used in branding and marketing strategies to attract your target audience. And here keep it short and simple. Having the right USP will resonate with having the right audience.
Liked this article? Why not read “How to increase customer engagement for my tech business”
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