How To Develop Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

CREATING YOUR VALUE PROPOSITION

The stuff of USP, niche, differentiator

 

WHY BOTHER?

It is not enough to simply provide a good service or make a great product. If a million people can do what you do you will not win. You need to work out what’s important to your customers and how you offer something that others can’t. You need to figure out what makes you the only choice for your customers.

Defining your value proposition (the value you deliver to your customers) is one of the most important things you can do as a business.  Yet many don’t do it well.  Why?  Because it takes time and it takes discipline. It involves making choices and being clear about the value your business really delivers.

Your value proposition will emerge in the process of asking and reflecting on the right questions. And it starts with a clear understanding of how your offering improves the world of the people you want to win.

“If you have an hour to create a product or service, spend 59 minutes figuring out how it will elegantly solve a customer’s problem, then spend a minute designing it.” Global Fit CEO Frank

AUTHENTICITY

Whatever you define your value proposition to be, make sure it lines up with what you DO and who you ARE.

It can’t be just what you SAY you are. It is not a slogan or marketing campaign. It has to live through everything that you do – every element of your business. Make sure your activities, processes, people, communication, products and services genuinely deliver it.

YOUR VALUE PROPOSITION

  1. WHO ARE YOU SERVING?

 

  • Who you are serving is essential to driving your value proposition and it may vary depending on who you are delivering your services to. So it is not uncommon to have multiple value propositions. It may be that you have a number of different packages – because you are either targeting a different group of people, with different needs or the benefit you are delivering differs significantly depending on the product/ service you offer.
  • Immersing yourself in your customers world is essential to every single aspect of marketing and most importantly your value proposition. Understanding customers is not just about gathering information. It is about insightful thinking. Finding connections, patterns and ah ha moments in the information you are observing. Use the persona template below to explore your customers’ world.

 NOTE: If you want to create a single “brand” then it is essential to identify a single idea that captures the entirety of your business when you look at your benefits.

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