It’s called your Unique Selling Point. Defined by Entrepreneur.com as “The factor or consideration presented by a seller as the reason that one product or service is different from and better than that of the competition”. Or in other words, what sets you apart. Whether you are starting a business or already run one, having a USP is a must. Below are 4 ways to help find your USP.
Examine Competitors
When developing a product or service the first thing to do is look at the competition. Find out what they are doing right and what they are doing wrong.
This is the best way to find out flaws that are worth capitalizing on. It can also be beneficial to look at their promotional techniques and also their pricing methods to see where you want to position your product in consumer’s minds and wallets. Know how the competition differentiates their product. Once you have examined the competition you may then decide how you are going to be beneficially different.
Understand the Market
Know who is going to buy your product or service and know how they are going to do it. In today’s technologically advanced society, most consumers are influenced in some sort of way from social and other types of media. So knowing which outlets are the biggest influencers in your market can be beneficial in delivering your selling point to the consumer.
Define Your Advantage
Once you have studied your market and competition, you must know how you are going to differentiate your competitive competencies. This means knowing why consumers will pick your business over others, essentially, what you have that the competition does not.
Another way to view this is narrowing down your target market based on one quality that you possess. For example, a restaurant that offers 5-star dining may only offer gluten free options, narrowing down their target market. This would be a unique selling point for that business.
Test and Refine
Once you have done the first 3 steps you may start to formulate a list of potential USPs that could effectively be implemented. You should then take the list and test each USP to see what works and what doesn’t. This is when the business will begin to redefine objectives and goals. When test USPs be sure to implement advertising and promotional aspects as well to make sure that all pieces of the business are being tested as one.
A USP is arguably the most important part of a business and can take a substantial amount of time to develop. So with that being said, never get discouraged because it will take research and development to come up with a sustainable USP.
