Are you a small business owner? Are you familiar with the best way to communicate your Unique Selling Point/Point Why is your USP important for your brand’s success? 

Do you focus on what you can do, or what your customers can do?

This topic was raised recently at a lively networking event that I attended. It was shocking to me to learn that so many people didn’t consider a) how important and b) what a USP is in a business.

What is your USP? It all comes down to what makes you unique

Similar in meaning to “Unique Selling Position” and ” Unique Selling Point”, can be misleading.

I know what you mean. You have spent many nights dreaming up a product or service you are proud to be able to use.

Your business is ready to go to the market.

I don’t mean to offend. It’s a natural and understandable reason to be proud. But the problem is…

Prospects and customers don’t care.

Why?

This is something all SME owners (and larger businesses) have had to learn the hard way.

B2C and B2B consumers don’t care how hard you work or how many sacrifices you make, nor how well you research, develop, and refine your product or service.

Clients/customers/clients care only about one thing.

What’s In It For Me?

I’m asked to help a new company with its marketing communications. This can be done either directly or through an agency. To point out those who have worked so hard for their product/service to be the best.

I am sorry for their loss but I feel the need to speak the truth. Customers and prospects don’t care about the consequences unless they can see them.

What next for your USP? How can you make it work?

Do not define what you do. Instead, tell prospects and customers what you do.

This is your bottom line. It’s what addresses their “pain points span”

Customers and prospects are often kept awake at night by “pain points”. Problems your product/service solves.

This should be your USP.

Use the taglines to your advantage 

This article will show you how to create a tagline that represents your business and helps prospects. Here’s a short excerpt:

Your marketing and branding are influenced by your tagline. It can be hard to find the right words that express your brand’s values.

This article also discusses what you can do to make sure your tagline is clear and concise. 

Use the “SO WHAT” test to sharpen your USP.

This is another way to make sure your USP meets the important “What’s In It For Me?” criterion.

The “SO WHAT?” test is a useful tool. The “SO WHAT” test is a great tool to evaluate a range of slogans, taglines, and other variations. This includes your 60-second pitch for business networking. You can find it at HTWB.

If you’re in a hurry, however, we recommend you take your USP and go through all the “SO WHAT’S” to reach a solid “what is in it for you”. This could reveal surprising details about your market positioning and competition. This is an example: