Identifying your own unique selling position is difficult when you do so from your own perspective rather than from the perspective of your customer.

What exactly are you offering in return for your prospects or customers precious time and/or hard-earned money? Never forget that if your offer is not strong enough in the minds of your target market, they will not call, make an appointment, buy or come in.

Rarely will they see or hear your ad.

One of the best ways to differentiate your business from your competition is to frame your message in a way that makes your prospects eager to hear what you have to say regarding what is in it for them to do business with you.

In order to do that, you first need to know who your target market is and what their specific needs are. Then and only then can you do an effective job of answering their questions and tantalizing them to give you a try.

If your ad message is not targeted at the correct demographics (your target market), you increase your chances of making an offer to people who do not really need what you are selling. Weak ad results. Low sales.

If your product or service is price sensitive or low-ticket, you need to keep hammering away (advertising) to constantly reach the passing parade of new prospects and/or customers. The operative word here is constantly.

If you are selling high ticket products or services, you will need to explain in explicit detail what is in it for prospects to buy from YOU as opposed to your competition. Explicit detail. Never overblown puffery.

You also need to make it easy to buy (financing). No come ons. Honest easy-to-understand terms and conditions.

If you are not collecting customer testimonials,start. Include them in your ads, along with real names and photos of real people. Gaining trust is the name of the game. Testimonials can help you gain trust in any marketplace.

Do not play it safe when it comes to defining what is in it for people to do business with you. Be specific. Do NOT attempt to appeal to everyone. If you do, you will end up appealing to no one.

Be innovative. Experiment. Evaluate. Evolve. Keep honing your unique selling position.

Your ads cannot and should not sound or look like all other ads. Identify your niche and speak directly to it as though you are sitting across the coffee table. Make your target audience feel good about choosing your business.

Educate your staff first. Be 100% certain that each one of them understands what your accepted sales process looks like. If you do not do this, you will end up with the May-I-help-you?-no-I-am-just-looking disease that is almost universal in all businesses today. Talk about lame!

No one can create an effective USP in a vacuum. Communication is the key. Tell your employees, tell your customers, tell your prospects. Tell everyone every day in every way. Doing so is the stuff that truly successful businesses are made of.