How To Uniquely Position Yourself In Your Market To Outsell Better-Funded And More Experienced Competitors... Even If You're The New Kid On The Block."



You can always tell who the charlatans are in the information business. If you seek wisdom from someone about writing ads, and they tell you to create a killer "USP"... but neglect to tell you how to do it... then you can bet you're dealing with a guy who learned this stuff from books, and not from the real world.

The term USP has been around since art deco. Originally, it stood for "unique selling proposition".

To better fit the needs of entrepreneurs and small business owners, I have re-defined it to mean "Positioning yourself, uniquely in your market, in order to sell." This has helped marketers envision how crafting their own USP means setting their offering apart from the competition, with an emphasis on grabbing the sales that otherwise might slip away.

The key word is... "unique". Basically your USP is what sets you apart from your competition, or what makes your product or service a "must have" item.

Writing a USP is not brain surgery, but it does take some effort and practice. It's the first thing you need to work on, before even starting to write your letter or ad.

Here are the basics of creating your own USP:

1. Your goal is to condense all of the vast details of your product or service or offer into one pithy sentence (two at the most) that is clear, concise, and has the force of salesmanship fused into every word.

2. You do not write your USP so it "reads well", but rather so it creates tension, desire and urgency in the reader's mind.

Here is the first test: If what you write can be adopted by any other business without change, then what you have is a meaningless slogan.

Thus... "Simply the best in town" is not even close as a USP. It's just useless bragging, and could be stolen by any other business in the world. (Not that stealing it would do them any good. (Slogans don't sell. They just take up space.)

3. Let's deconstruct the USP step by step. Two simple phrases to get your started are "fast, cheap and good" and "simple, easy and lucrative". Actually, you seldom need to go beyond these kinds of pithy, explanatory phrases.

Think in terms of what your business does for the human being using what you offer. Your customer doesn't care that you've been around for fifty years, unless you explain why that's important. Same with being family owned, or local, or having fifty billion dollars in reserve. These are features, and may mean a lot to you...but they do not mean squat to the prospect.

4. Your USP should be what comes to your customer's mind when he thinks about you. Or when he's explaining to his skeptical brother-in-law why he bought from you, and not the other company in town.

Example: You have guaranteed lowest prices? That's a start. If you can back it up. ("We will beat your competitor's lowest price by $10, or you get it free.")

5. Once you get your USP down, your ads will practically write themselves. You can use it as your headline, much of the time. And simply go deeper in your ad on each point.

I've now written about 100 ads for golf instructional videos. At first glance, every single video was pretty much identical to the ones before it, and the ones after it. I've had to dig pretty deep in my bag of tricks to come up with fresh slants for each ad. I think it's safe to say most writers would have shot themselves by the fifth ad. I'm just lucky I have a deeper bag than most.

But this has also taught me an important lesson about USPs: There is always something unique about a new product.

Sometimes it's in the product itself. "A unique swing that will instantly force you to look like a pro golfer."

Sometimes it's in the offer. "You can learn this simple tactic in just three swings at the practice range."

And sometimes it's in the guarantee. "If you don't drop 10 strokes the first round you use this new swing, I'll send you double your money back."

6. The best USP's are so tight, you cannot remove or change a single word. Each syllable earns its keep, and pushes the sales pitch forward.

You may get away with something like "A fast, easy way to bring in more customers and raise profits cost-effectively." To me, though, that's just a first attempt. The next few changes will bring home the bacon.

How fast? Three days? Two hours? One minute?

Why is it easy? No previous skills necessary? Is it a short-cut learning process? Is it an ethical way to cheat?

If the competition is not well-known, you need to appeal directly to your prospect's needs.

Take carpet cleaners, or dentists, or restaurants, or any other service where you're just another name in the phone book. Most ads for these services make dumb assumptions about what the prospect is looking for. The copy is generic: "We love kids." "Bonded". "Serving Cleveland for 21 years."

If there's a reason why you're different than all the rest, then say so.

If you're not different, then become different.

Have a stronger guarantee, longer hours, better prices, specific services no one else offers.

Tell your story. "We clean the governor's home carpets for state functions because we're professionally thorough, experienced in all types of stain-removal, finish all work on-time (even in emergencies), stay out of his way, and guarantee complete satisfaction or a complete refund. Plus we're priced less than anyone else in town. And guess what? You can get the same service as the governor, at the same low price, with the same money-back guarantee!"

The last line there is the USP. In one pithy sentence, you get credibility, bargain, implied excellent service and a guarantee.

In theory, your USP is simple to explain. Why should I do business with you, and not the other guy?

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