My life is awash in ads, and the worst part is as a business owner my web habits create the worst ad experience. I am always researching and reading up on my trade to stay ahead of the curve and Google, in its infinite wisdom, believes I am a target for ads in my own business segment. I am not. The silver lining for me (and I suspect many business owners who are mistargeted) is that I get to see the world from my client’s perspective, and it’s not pretty. The flood of ads that are pushed on my prospective clients is mind-numbing. I see every imaginable call to action, and money-saving deal and, it’s a bit demoralizing. It can make me feel like my business is just one in a crowd and there is little hope of standing out. But deep in my entrepreneurial spirit I know that’s not true. My business has something very unique to offer a specific group of customers. In that space lies the silver lining to the cloud of poorly targeted ads I am subjected to, it is the opportunity to refine my unique selling point and target audience.
Marketing Your Unique Selling Point
Marketing Your Unique Selling PointThe term Unique Selling Point (USP) is a bit of jargon (which I despise), but it is accurate in this case. It’s what makes your business stand out from a crowd of similar businesses and helps consumers sort out if you are the right match for their needs.
For example, you might be a dentist and offer weekend hours to accommodate your clients’ work schedules. Or maybe in an updated version of this in the post-pandemic world, you may offer initial meet-and-greet consultations via Zoom calls. Now I know it will be rare to come up with something absolutely unique, but when you package all of your business attributes together and then leverage your location, you will have a USP for a specific audience.
In other words, let’s say I’m looking for a dentist, but I’m a little picky about chairside manners so I’d like to meet them before I’m numbed up. I start looking online, and there are several that say they offer Zoom initial consults, but hey this one is right down the street from me. Done and done.
How to Determine Your Unique Selling Point
It’s actually an interesting exercise to think about what makes your business unique and who your best customers should be. Sometimes there are aspects of your business that you take for granted that are actually good selling points if consumers are aware of them. What if almost all of your employees have a tenure of more than 15 years? This might not jump out as a unique attribute, but in an economy where employees are hard to find, it speaks volumes about the quality of a business and the reliability and dedication of the employees. Your USP should be a collection of attributes that can be configured into a narrative that tells the story of your business that will appeal to the customers you want to reach. With that, you can craft messages that will get through the flood of ads and stand out in order to connect with your best potential customers and grow your business.
