Now Where IS That USP?
Here’s an email I received this past week from a small video business owner: “Steve, I am working on the new design for our site, and I need a really snappy one- or two-sentence headline summarizing everything that’s great about us. It needs to say what we do in just a couple of sentences. Do you have any ideas?”
Finding your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) is all the rage right now. Everybody talks about it. There are hundreds of thousands of listings about USP on Google. Many offer a 3-step, 7-step, 10-step, howevermany-step program to help you determine your products’ or your services’ very own USP.
Part of the reason it’s such a discussed topic is because it’s becoming more difficult to distinguish yourself from the competition. Back in the 1940s when Rosser Reeves, the ad guy who came up with “Unique Selling Proposition,” it was much easier to be the only product (or service) offering
specific benefits.
Determining your product’s USP is trickier than before and more important. So here’s a rule of thumb to follow; the simpler your message is - the better it will be.
In other words, what unique advantage can you offer that your competitors are not offering? Mind you, it’s not that they can’t do it; it’s just that they’re not saying it.
My “Positioning Your Video Business” video class talks about how to determine your USP. I also am devoting at least one upcoming column in EventDV magazine to this subject. Or do your own web search for “USP” and see what you can find.
Remember, there’s no time like the present to define or redefine your unique selling position to distinguish your video business from the rest of the pack, and give people a reason to patronize you.
I’ll have a little more on this subject tomorrow; stay tuned.
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