Today, very few businesses are one-of-a-kind. So, what makes a customer choose your company’s product or service over your competitors?

The truth, it’s not necessarily what you’re selling that sets you apart and grabs a customer’s attention, but the messaging you choose to focus on.

This can be achieved by implementing an effective sales strategy around a “Unique Selling Proposition” that differentiates your business and resonates with your desired customers. When your company goals and values match those of your desired customers you can bet your last penny that they will buy into your business over your competitors.

So, what is a USP?

A Unique Selling Proposition (USP) is a statement that describes how your product, service or company is different and hopefully better than your competitions.

Historically, global brands have presented USPs in their slogans or expressed them in their positioning statements to make themselves more valuable to their customer group. You may have heard of theses famous examples:

Rolls Royce

“Trusted to deliver excellence; like nothing else on earth”

FedEx Corporation

“When it absolutely, positively has to be overnight”

TOMS Shoes

“We give a new pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair you purchase”

How do you establish yours?

Being ‘unique’ is rarely a strong USP and rarely true. Therefore, you must put your focus on an aspect which your desired customer cares about, otherwise your messaging won’t be nearly as effective. A compelling USP should:

• Focus on the values of your ideal customer: Your desired customer must feel that you truly understand their needs and are therefore the best company to offer them the solution to their problem.
• Assertive and defensible: Create a USP that encourages a consumer to make a case as to why they shouldn’t choose your competitor.
• Leverage your industries reputation: Position yourself as the game changer in your industry. For example, the telemarketing industry struggles with a lingering reputation for being disruptive in favour of generating dishonest profits. However, knowing this about our own industry, Air have created a platform where our clients can see exactly how much time we spend on their campaigns minute by minute. This platform is truly transparent and shows us to be a collaborative partner who delivers exactly what we have promised our clients. By creating a USP that has changed the game of our industry we are now considered one of the leading telemarketing companies in the UK.
• Avoid the “superstar effect”: A great USP is not claiming that your business is the best. How many times have you gone to a new city and seen “Best Restaurant” plastered on the doorway of multiple businesses? Companies often strive to be the best, but the first thing your USP should strive for is difference.
• More than a slogan: While a slogan is one way your USP can be communicated, it’s also something your organisation should embody in other areas of your businesses. Don’t talk the talk if you can’t walk the walk.

Remember you’re still here to sell!

Just as Relationship Marketing is as much about the marketing as is it about the relationships, the same applies for creating a Unique Selling Proposition; it’s a form of differentiation that needs to be built around selling more products and services, not just to make your business into a quirky brand that stands out but can’t get traction.

1. Remember each piece of marketing material or conversation must say “Buy this product or service, for this specific benefit.”
2. Your proposition must be one that your competition cannot or does not offer; It must be unique either to your business or in a claim that your competitors have not made themselves.
3. Your proposition must attract new customers and be created with the intent to sell, not just stand out.

Would you like more help establishing your USP? At Air Marketing Group we help our clients form and execute USPs that really resonate with their desired customers, deliver rewarding ROI and differentiate their business in the market place. To get the most out of your USP contact our experienced team today: contact@air-marketing.co.uk or phone 0345 241 3038.