It might be useful to think of your USP as your business’s superpower…

….or your secret sauce….

….or the “X-factor” that sets you apart in the overwhelming sea of mediocrity. 

Your USP needs to communicate that special something that makes customers say, “Whoa, I’ve gotta have that!” while your competitors cry into their lukewarm coffee.

Here’s a few things to think about when it comes to your USP.

1. Be as Unique as a Unicorn Riding a T-Rex

Your USP should be unique in a way that captures the attention of the RIGHT potential customer or client. 

Where do your competitors fall short? 

What frustrations does your market have with the things they’ve tried to get the result your USP offers previously? 

Maybe most persuasive of all, does your offer deliver a unique experience? Does it deliver a unique level of status or the activation of a core desired feeling for people in your market? 

Don’t be afraid to lean hard into being different from the accepted norm for your industry.

For example, take Dollar Shave Club. They didn’t just sell razors. They sold an experience. 

Their buyers got to be part of a revolution against everything wrong with the “status quo” related to their product. 

Their USP was all about delivering high-quality razors at a fraction of the cost, with a side of humor and convenience. 

They nailed the key frustrations that quality razors were too expensive and it was a chore to always have to remember to buy more every few weeks or months. 

Plus they made it feel pretty damn cool to take cash, convenience, and control back from the “old guard” of razors. 

2. Solve Problems like a Ninja on Steroids

Your USP should address a problem or pain point that your target audience faces. 

Be their knight in shining armor, riding in with a promise to solve the problem that feels so difficult, unique, and personal to them.

You are allowed to have multiple USPs. 

Maybe you have multiple different types of people who buy your product…

….and they all buy for different reasons. 

Or maybe there are several different key use cases for your product.

You need to be aware of each main “avatar” you have and what their most urgent and important needs are. 

Dive deep into who they are, what they want, even their internal thoughts + feelings about their current situation. 

Speak to them in their language, acknowledge their current situation, and watch them start to pay attention to what you have to say.

3. Keep it Short and Sweet  (Like a Love Letter on a Post-It Note)

Your USP should be concise, memorable, and pack a punch. Your market should IMMEDIATELY know what it means without having to think about it.

My favorite example of this is Domino’s Pizza.

Remember back in the day when Pizza Hut was THE go to place for pizza delivery?

Ever wondered how Domino’s ate their lunch? 

They did it with a simple 15 word USP:

“Fresh, hot pizza delivered to your door in 30 minutes or less… or it’s free.”

Now think about that for a second: 

It’s a Saturday night, but it’s a couple decades ago before the fancy apps we have today so you actually had to call a pizza place to order one. 

So you pull out the ole Yellow Pages and look up some numbers. 

You see a bunch of options for pizza delivery….and they all look about the same.

And then you see Domino’s promising you a fresh pizza in 30 mins or you don’t pay.

Pretty obvious which one you’d choose, right?

And that’s what people did. Over and over and over until they helped make Domino’s the dominant player in the pizza market today. 

4. Embrace Your Inner Rebel, Break the Rules

When it comes to your USP, don’t be afraid to defy the norms and break the rules. 

Be bold. Be daring. Challenge the status quo. 

Be the wild card. The maverick. 

Be the disruptor in a sea of conformity. 

Show the world that you’re a rebel with a cause, and you’ll attract your people to you like moths to your blazing flame.

Remember – it’s better to be different than it is to be better. I can’t stress this enough.

No business can get to the top of its market by being the same as the other businesses. By definition that can’t possibly work.

So don’t try. Be different. 

Create a USP that’s unique like you are… and use that USP to inform everything from your branding to your marketing approach.

That way lies success, my friend.

Your Starter USP Formula

I get it. It’s hard to figure out a USP. 

And it’s TWICE as hard to do for your own business. You’re so close you can’t see the wood for the trees… even though they’re right in front of you.

So I have a formula for you to tinker with, and make your own.

And please note, this won’t give you an all purpose, cookie cutter USP. I’m not a magician.

That’s the last thing you want anyway.

But this formula WILL give you a jumping off point. Something to dig into and use your own creativity and uniqueness to make it your own.

Here’s goes:

“We help ________ solve ________ by ________”

Seems simple right? The best stuff always is.

To make it work for you, you need to fill in the blanks.

Blank 1 – your audience.

Blank 2 – the problem you solve for them.

Blank 3 – the unique way you do it.

This is a great exercise because it forces you to narrow down your audience and focus on their actual problems… and that should be the main focus of any business.

Give it a shot yourself, and don’t be afraid to mess around with it and get really creative.

Once you have something you like, your job is to figure out how to communicate it as concisely and as powerfully as possible.

And no, it doesn’t have to become your main advertising slogan like it did for Domino’s… in fact, it may not be anything that your customers ever see at all. 

But if you do it right, it’ll definitely inform everything from the direction of the company to the style of your marketing and communications.

Bottom line, your USP is a big deal. 

And yeah you can make money without one… but to get the stratospheric success you’re probably looking for, you DEFINITELY need to have a USP that gives you a clear direction.

Spend 2 hours working on it today, and see your business evolve over the next 6 months as a result. 

Let your USP be the magnet that attracts your ideal customers and repels them from the competition like an invisible force field.