How to Create an Effective Unique Selling Proposition For Your Business

Blog

"*" indicates required fields

Got Questions?

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

A booklet on a desk on a metal ring that says "USP", which stands for Unique Selling Proposition.

Having trouble bringing in sales to your business? You may need to work on your unique selling proposition (USP).

Doing so sets you apart from the pack and helps get the right people to purchase from you.

However, we’re not referring to always-available customer service, free shipping, or no-risk return policy as USPs. These offers are common among most businesses, and using any of them won’t make your company more unique.

That said, creating a USP is not as easy as it sounds. You’ll need a digital marketing agency to help you develop one for your company. 

However, we must first discuss how to create a unique selling proposition that will turn your target market into customers. In the end, you should act upon these tips to elevate your small business and generate the sales it deserves.

List Down What Makes Your Business Great

A notebook of graph paper that says "strengths" and "weaknesses"

In this part, mention the benefits customers get when they buy from you instead of when they buy from your business.

Also, take into account the problems that your business solves. This lens allows you to situate your brand according to your target audience’s pain points.

The idea here is to help flesh out the benefit and advantage of going with your business and how you can help customers with their needs.

In doing so, you may also include your USP without you knowing it. Later on, you can identify which listed benefits you can use as your unique selling proposition.

Determine Pain Points of Customer Persona

First, you need to develop a buyer persona for your company. 

The goal of building a customer persona is to help you understand who exactly you’re targeting with your brand.

To do this, you must break down the persona into categories such as age, occupation, goals and motivations, and behavior, among others.

AN infographic on USPs by the Marketing Insider Group
Source: Marketing Insider Group

Having a clear customer persona also helps you fashion your small business based on their demographics. In this case, you must use the buyer persona’s information to determine your potential customers’ problems and issues and how your business can help solve them.

Understanding what makes the life of your ideal customer difficult is vital to business owners such as yourself. 

You want to make your business their go-to service for their needs and wants. You can achieve this by providing products or services that take their pain away.

Also, use this opportunity to refine your business offerings if they are not in line with your potential customers’ pain points.

Conduct Market Research

Someone conducting marketing research on an iPad.

Accept the fact that your business operates in an open market. People have the freedom to choose and patronize brands they feel are best for them.

Therefore, you must know what your business is going up against. 

By knowing who your top competitors are and identifying their business model, strengths, and weaknesses, you can find the right USP for your business.

To do this, determine competitors’ respective unique selling propositions by reverse-engineering the process. In addition to finding out your unique selling proposition and who your buyer persona is, you must do this to your competition.

First, find at least five of the top businesses that appeal to the same audience as you and check out their products or services. 

Then look at their testimonials from different sites to see the common denominator about demographics. This approach should help you piece together their buyer personas.

Once you’ve done this on all competitors, compare and contrast your findings with data about your company. Determine gaps and similarities between you and the competition and find ways to help position yourself better over them.

Identify Your Promise

Sometimes, it’s not enough to have a solid USP in place. You must make your selling points actionable to encourage your audience to pull out their wallets for you. Your promise comes in here.

Saddleback Leather, an online store for quality leather products, has an excellent promise on its website.

A screenshot of Saddleback Leather

Leather’s tough and durable material lends credence to its promises of “100-year warranty,” “no breakable parts,” and “over-engineered.”

All these guarantees help make sense of their witty tagline: They’ll Fight Over It When You’re Dead.

The company emphasized leather qualities to create promises that they can fulfill. This method gives customers further incentive to purchase, knowing that the promises make its product a no-risk deal.

Using this example, you must find a promise concerning your USP that you can be sure to keep.

Synthesize Findings into an Elevator Pitch

Once you have perfected your USP by considering the information above, you need to come up with an elevator pitch for it.

An infographic on the idea of an elevator pitch in marketing.
Source: Iberdrola

There are many ways you or your content marketer can write an elevator pitch. But the goal is the same: to come up with a short statement that encapsulates your unique selling proposition.

When developing this statement, answer the questions below that apple to your product or service:

  • For whom is your product or service designed?
  • What are your prospective customers looking for in a product?
  • What makes your business different from the rest? Mention the best selling point of your company here.
  • How does the product or service work?
  • Who are your main competitors?

Using these questions, let’s write a pitch about a particular Purina cat food product and make it stand out from the rest:

We at Purina developed a cat food that prevents the release of Fel d1, the major cat allergen that causes allergic reactions among people. The food contains an egg-based ingredient with antibodies that neutralize the allergen from the source, thus preventing it from spreading in the environment. This way, folks who want to own a cat at home but are allergic to one won’t have to suffer anyone thanks to this product.

The statement could use more work. However, answering the most relevant questions listed above makes the product even more appealing than before.

Need Help in Building Your USP?

People sitting around a table developing a marketing strategy.

Coming up with the right unique selling proposition is vital to your marketing strategy’s success. Everything will hinge on what makes your products special and why your customers should get them.

But doing the steps above all by yourself may be way out of your wheelhouse. That’s not a knock on you because you have more important things to do for your company.

In this case, you’ll need help from an agency that delivers results.

We at Romain Berg will make sure to help shape your USP or unique selling point that stands out from the crowd but also create a business plan centered around your strengths. 

From here, we’ll launch campaigns to help get your products off the ground and achieve your business goals. For us to know how we can help your brand, fill out this form, and we’ll get back to you immediately.

About the Author

Sam Romain

Sam Romain

Digital marketing expert, data interpreter, and adventurous entrepreneur empowering businesses while fearlessly embracing the wild frontiers of fatherhood and community engagement.

Introduction In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, web development stands at the forefront of business...
Introduction In today’s digital landscape, content marketing has evolved from a buzzword to an essential...
TLDR: Embracing web accessibility not only meets legal standards but enhances overall user experience, expands...
On May 24, 2024, Governor Walz signed the Minnesota Consumer Data Privacy Act (MCDPA) into...
Explore the nuances of choosing between .com and .org for your website. Learn how Romain...
Discover how SEO transforms real estate marketing, with insights from expert Romain Berg. Learn the...
Learn the true timeline of SEO impact with our in-depth article, highlighting the importance of...
Discover the powerful capabilities of Link Whisper in our review, highlighting its AI-driven internal linking...
Discover essential restaurant SEO strategies for enhancing your online presence. Learn how to leverage reviews,...
Discover how to leverage Help A Reporter Out (HARO) to elevate your brand with Romain...
Search