The USP Generator

What’s the one single item that’s likely to make a significant difference to your business profitability?

Which element of marketing is overlooked by 95% of businesses?

What will give you an immediate advantage over all your competitors?

Answer - A Unique Selling Proposition (or USP)

To find out more about the USP and how it can significantly improve your profitability, check out our 7-Step USP Generator service. You can either follow the simple 7-step process yourself, or, for a one-off fee, we can create a complete USP package for you.

How to write a USP

It isn’t easy…

Creating your own USP may be one of the most difficult business tasks you undertake. It demands much thought and consideration – and for that reason alone is probably the
reason why 99% of businesses don’t have one!

… but it has such value.

And yet, if you do spend the time and effort to create your USP, the benefits are enormous. Suddenly you have a point of differentiation between you and your competitors which makes your potential customer’s decision to buy from you so much easier. By defining your USP you have arrived at the major competitive advantage you have – and that means you can use it in all your marketing communications; on the phone, in ads, on flyers, in catalogues, in sales letters etc, etc.

So how do you do it?

Here’s a 7-step guide to writing your USP

STEP 1 – Define your target customer
Who are you aiming this message at? What sort of person buys your product or service? Male, female? Age? What interests are they likely to have? What sort of language do they use? Think carefully about this until you can create a mental picture of your customer.

STEP 2 – Think about your target customer’s problems
In order for a customer to buy from you, he/she must be ‘in the market’ to buy. In other words they must be ready to spend some cash on a product. Although there are occasions when someone buys a product on impulse i.e. at the supermarket checkout – the majority of purchases are made because the customer is ready to buy. And when are they most likely to buy? WHEN HE/SHE HAS A PROBLEM!

So think about the problems your potential customer might have when he/she is in the market for your product or service. Write them down – and keep writing until you can’t write any more. Then think about it overnight. Ask your friends and colleagues to think about it. Ask your spouse to think about it. Then gather all their thoughts and continue writing.

STEP 3 – Think about how you resolve those problems.
When you have a definitive list of your customer’s problems, write down all the ways in which you resolve them. It’s important when you write the answers that you express your
solutions in terms of his/her problem. It’s best to start with all the ways in which you currently resolve the problems, then work into the different ways you could resolve them
now you are thinking deeply about it.

A word of warning here! Be realistic. Don’t start thinking about levels of service which you couldn’t possibly achieve. That’s a pointless exercise. But it’s at this stage that you should start to unravel something that’s unique about what you currently do, or what you could do in the future.

STEP 4 – Look for uniqueness.
Many of the solutions you come up with in Step 3 are likely to be universal throughout your industry. Don’t discard anything at this stage. You may need to go back to a universal solution and make a new twist on it. Better though, with a little luck and imagination, you will probably uncover something that’s unique to your business. What’s the unique niche you fill? What’s special about the products or services you provide? What’s special about the payment/pricing/offer you make? What’s special/different about the way you deal with your customers?

STEP 5 – What can you guarantee?
If you are having trouble with uniqueness, then think about what you can guarantee to your customer. Even if you don’t currently offer any form of warranty or guarantee, ask yourself what is your policy if a customer complains. Would you give them their money back? Would you replace the product? Would you spend more time to finish the job? Any of these consequences could easily be turned into a powerful guarantee.

STEP 6 – Crafting and refining your USP
Now comes the really difficult part! Creating a succinct yet powerful statement that expresses a significant benefit to your customer, that provides a solution to his problem
and, if possible, comes with a watertight guarantee. Remember in STEP 1 you defined the customer, so make sure you use language he/she is comfortable with. Don’t use jargon, but don’t be afraid of keeping it very simple. You will probably need to write and re-write this many times before you get to a statement that does the job. But even then ask others for their opinion. Ask your current customers if they relate to it. In their eyes, does it express what you do for them? If it does, you are getting close! Then test it. Don’t be afraid to refine it after a few days or a few weeks. You’re sure to come up with a slightly better version once you start using it, so don’t commit to huge print runs until everyone is comfortable with it.

STEP 7 – Using your USP
As well as using your USP in all your advertisements and marketing material (catalogues, flyers, sales letters etc), you should also incorporate it into your business cards, your voicemail messages, compliment slips, web pages etc, etc. Make sure all your employees know it and use it – constantly - in their communications and conversations with customers, suppliers etc. After all, you have invested much time and effort in creating your USP. You should gain as much advantage from it as possible.

And so much more!

The 7-Step process outlined above will provide you with all the essentials you need to create an effective USP for your business. But it doesn’t end there! You will find that thanks to the depth of thought you have put into creating your USP, you will be able to use it as the core marketing message for all your marketing activities. Elevator Speech, straplines, Mission Statements will all be influenced by, and include elements of, your Unique Selling Proposition.

If you would like professional help in creating a powerful USP for your business, click here to go to the DMS USP Generator Service