How To Integrate Your USP

Once you understand what your USP is, it is important that you integrate it and impliment it into your business. A good place to start is to make sure that you publicize it so that every one can see right away who you are in the marketplace and what you stand for. This will identify you to your target market.

You should start by placing your USP on:

• Your business cards
• Your website
• Any print or media advertising
• Actually in your place of business – maybe or your counter/checkout/desk, etc
• Signage
• Answering machine

Why?

It is important that your customers know exactly who you are and why they should do business with you.

It is more than that though.

Your USP is not simply words, a sentence or paragraph. It should become the essence of your business. Once you determine your USP, you may have to change the way you do things, the suppliers you use or something in your processes in order to be able to deliver what you are promising.

If a pizza shop guarantees delivery of pizza in 30 minutes, they better be able to make the pizza in less 25 minutes. Once you determine what your customers are looking for and what needs they have, you can determine how you are to meet those needs, then you build your business around that and deliver.

What is a USP?

U.S.P. stands for “Unique Selling Proposition”. This indicates what is different, special, unique about your business. What sets you apart in your marketplace?

Ultimately, your USP should answer this question in your customer’s mind:

“Why should I do business with you above any and all other options?”

Is very important that you know exactly why your customers should do business with you. If you don’t know why your customers should do business with you, then you will not be able to communicate this to them.

Your USP can and should communicate the specific benefit that your customer will receive by purchasing your product or service. The idea here is to pull out a specific benefit that your product or service offers and promote that so that when your customer requires that benefit they associate your product or service with it.

Your USP should be unique. You should be making a claim that no one else in your marketplace either can make, or is making.

Let’s look at some examples:

Domino’s Pizza: “You get fresh, hot pizza delivered to your door in 30 minutes or less — or it’s free.”

When Domino’s came out with this USP, they targeted a market that no one else had focused on. They thought of all the things that could make them unique and decided to offer fast delivery of their product. They did not claim to have the best tasting, healthiest, most organic pizza available. They only promised that they were delivered quickly. What this did was identified them in the marketplace as the pizza store with fast delivery. If you wanted pizza NOW, you automatically called Domino’s. They only had to make one claim and target one market. In a short time they became a market leader.

FedEx: “When your package absolutely, positively has to get there overnight”

When FedEx came out with this USP, they were trying to carve out their place in the market. They certainly did all kinds of delivery (overnight, second day, ground, air, etc) however their business started to grow quickly when they clearly identified who they were and what the benefit was to the customer. Again, they selected one benefit they could offer the customer and communicated that message so if a customer had to deliver a package quickly, they automatically would call FedEx.

These USP’s became famous because they worked. They communicated the specific benefit a specific market and then delivered.

Here are some other good examples:

M&M’s: “The milk chocolate melts in your mouth, not in your hand”

Wonder Bread: “Wonder Bread Helps Build Strong Bodies 12 Ways”

Head & Shoulders: “You get rid of dandruff”