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Strategies for Positioning Your Small Business
By John Jantsch
Why would I buy from you is what your clients and
potential clients constantly ask themselves when
considering a purchase. Of course what they are
really asking is “what’s in it for me.”
A simple strategy for positioning your firm or
product deeply in your target market’s mind is a
tool called a USP. The term USP has been around for
a long time. The letters stand for Unique Selling
Proposition.
The idea here is to identify and then communicate a
concise statement of your firm’s most compelling
offer and benefit in a way that the potential client
can automatically answer the what's in it for me
question. That’s all a USP is.
Most everyone is familiar with the original FedEx
USP. On time every time or it’s free. At the time
this offer was very unique in the shipping industry
and literally built the company based on
communicating this unique selling proposition. So
what’s your compelling offer? What can you do and
offer that no one else in your industry can offer?
Most consumers view small businesses like
commodities. The feeling is that one accountant is
like another or that one attorney can get the same
result as another.
The problem is that most marketers do nothing to
expel that perception. “Buy from us because we’ve
been in business for 20 years,” or “we’re
dependable,” go the slogans of many small
businesses.
Of course the fact that you are dependable, carry a
full line of products, offer fair pricing, or are
honest are expectations...they are not points of
differentiation. An effective USP communicates your
firm’s unique ability to fill an obvious void in the
marketplace. The USP shows your target market how
your firm is uniquely qualified to solve their pain
or increase their gain. A USP can be your firm’s
single most powerful marketing weapon.
To craft a USP for your firm first make a list of
all the benefits of doing business with your firm.
Don’t leave anything out.
Then cut the list down with these guidelines.
1. What things on your list are unique versus your
direct competitors.
2. Which of these benefits is most important to your
clients?
3. Which of these would be difficult for other's in
your industry to copy?
4. Which of these can be easily communicated?
From this set of guidelines you should be able to
narrow your search to the top one or two benefits of
doing business with your firm.
From there it is simply a matter of injecting this
chief benefit or USP into everything that you do.
Craft headlines that promote your USP, put a USP
statement on your stationary and business cards,
build your USP into all of your sales presentations.
The ultimate goal is to become known to the market
as whatever your USP promotes.
One final word of warning. You must deliver on the
big promise communicated in your USP. Failure to do
so may actually do more harm then drifting along
without any marketing focus.
--- John Jantsch is a marketing coach, author and
creator of the Duct Tape Marketing System. His
website is ducttapemarketing.com.
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