USPs by Tash Hughes
of Word Constructions (www.wordconstructions.com.au)
What on earth is
a USP you may be wondering…
USP stands
for Unique Selling Point
and is an extremely important piece of information for
business owners. Not many business owners really take
the time to discover what their USP is, let alone use
it.
When you start a
business, you believe in your product or service – or
you should! Maybe you really are the only person in the
world offering it, but you probably do have some
competitors.
As a
potential customer, I would have to ask “why should I
buy from you rather than your competitor?”
The answer is
your USP.
What is it that
makes your business different to the rest in some way
that appeals to your customers? What makes your service
or product better than theirs?
Let’s take an
example. Mary is a
hairdresser in a busy suburb where there are 15 other
hairdressers as well. Why should people go to Mary
instead of the other 15 hairdressers?
Mary lists her
business strengths as being friendly, reasonably priced,
good with children and having 15 years experience.
But two of the
other hairdressers have more experience and five others
are cheaper than Mary. She needs something more.
Mary has set up
her salon with an enclosed play area for children and
has colourful gowns for children to wear for haircuts.
There are also pictures of favourite characters on the
walls in one part of the saloon and the whole place is
done in bright colours.
So, Mary’s USP
is that she is a family hairdresser – she is happy to
have children playing whilst she does Mum’s hair and
manages to get children’s hair cut without tantrums. Any
parent knows that these are great features.
Knowing her USP,
Mary can now make all of her advertising concentrate on
families and mothers.
Let’s try
another example. Shane is a carpenter about to begin
his new business. He wants to start well and to stand
out from other carpenters in his area.
During his
apprenticeship and by talking to people he meets, Shane
knows that tradesmen of all sorts have a reputation for
making a mess. He also knows that many tradesmen
actually tidy after the site before they leave, despite
the reputation.
Shane decides to
make his USP that he is a tidy and clean tradesman.
He calls his
business Clean Cabinets to help further his USP, and
targets all his marketing at the fact he tidies up the
site when the job is done.
Although most
service people would tidy up, the fact that Shane tells
his clients this gives them an extra trust in Shane’s
work. It wasn’t so much that tidying up is unique, but
telling clients about it was unique.
Look at your
business carefully and find what your USP is and then
tell clients what it is. As long as your USP is what
clients want, your business will do well.
Tash Hughes is
the owner of
Word Constructions and is available to solve all
your business writing problems! From letters to
policies, newsletters to web content, Word Constructions
writes all business documents to your style and
satisfaction.
|