USP
It is important to stand out among competitors and give people a reason to buy from you . At Technology Marketing Toolkit , we teach 10 different ways to differentiate your business . You could do any combination of them , but you don ’ t need all 10 ; however , you do need a way of differentiating yourself when you ’ re developing your unique selling proposition . Here are my 4 “ musts ” for a strong USP to beat out your competitors and close more deals .
THE 4 “ MUSTS ” FOR A STRONG USP
1 . BE UNIQUE TO YOU 2 . HAVE MEANINGFUL SPECIFICS 3 . MUST HAVE A STRONG APPEAL TO YOUR TARGET MARKET
4 . BE DEFENSIBLE BEFORE THEY BUY
You don ’ t want to be different just to be different . That doesn ’ t make any sense , and you need to be able to protect your USP . Let me share a story with you .
HOW HAVING A GREAT USP BUILT A FAMOUS BRAND
Here is a story about a business that has the best USP that I have ever heard in my life . To this day , the company is still around , so they know something about building a USP . When the company started ( an orphan actually started it ), he decided he needed to make his way in life . He didn ’ t have family money and needed a way to put himself through college . So , he starts this little business on the edge of the college campus , knocks on the door , and says , “ Hey , would you sell me your business ?” One owner was happy to dump it on him . There was no money down ; he just took over the business . He slept on cots in the back office , used the shower on campus , and started running this business to put himself through college because , again , he was an orphan . He didn ’ t have family money . He didn ’ t have scholarships , and this was his only plan . He recruits a buddy of his , and off they go .
Then , within a few months , he suddenly realizes why the owner was happy to dump it on him . No money down . It was because the business was failing miserably . He was losing money . Bleeding money . His partner in crime , this other student that was going to swap out classes with him and help him run the business , decides , “ You know what ? It ’ s not for me . I ’ m out .” He leaves , and our hero then has to drop out of college to run the business full-time because the debts are piling up . It ’ s his name on the business and he has to figure it out . One day he came up with a unique selling proposition , and what ’ s really cool about this unique selling proposition is it hits on all four of these points .
This USP was completely and radically unique . For its time , nobody had ever thought about it . Nobody had ever done it in his business category , and he quickly dominated his area by using this unique selling proposition . He dominated his city , and pretty soon , he became a national brand ; and at one point in time , even probably still today , you could stop people at random on the street and ask them to name the business in this category , and almost 90 % of them would name his company as the brand . That ’ s how well he developed his unique selling proposition and grew his business .
I guarantee you know or you ’ ve heard of this company . The unique selling proposition was this : fresh hot pizza delivered in 30 minutes or less guaranteed or it ’ s free – Domino ’ s Pizza . Based on that unique selling proposition , Tom Monahan built a business empire . His USP was unique to him because there was no other pizza place that was offering that . What is funny , after a while , they had to stop doing it because their competition eventually caught up to it . This happens with all really good unique selling propositions , but it was unique to him , had meaningful specifics , was appealing to his target audience , and was very defensible . It was defensible before you bought because the guarantee was there before you bought , and it strongly appealed to his target market . After all , at the time when he started growing his business , he built all
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