“A Unique Selling Proposition (USP) is the distinct, appealing idea which sets your business apart from every other “me too” competitor.”
Jay Abraham
That’s a beautifully succinct description of how to harness your marketing from one of the world’s best exponents.
Marketing around a USP is an essential step on the road to winning long-term, profitable clients.
It’s also a critical foundation for margin improvement and growth.
The USP you choose may touch any part of the marketing spectrum; price, service, process, quality or exclusivity.
And there are many, many USP possibilities from which to choose.
However, it’s best to adopt a proposition that addresses a gap in the market that your company can fill.
And you should be able to fill that gap exceptionally well, or better than most other businesses can.
Some examples of USPs include:
- Having the best selection; Here, the USP is “The widest choice”
- Low price; You may offer a limited selection of products. USP here is “at the lowest prices in the market”
- Quality or exclusivity can be a USP
- High levels of service can be a USP
- Superior installation times can be a USP
- Product quality can be a USP
You must be able to deliver on your promise
Adopting and marketing around a USP is counterproductive if you cannot fulfil the promise you promote.
Doing that will damage your business rather than build it.
The reason for focusing on the USP is that it should be an integral driver of the content produced by your business.
What’s the alternative? What if you don’t market from this position?
I’ll let Jay Abraham answer that one for you.
“When you ask a business owner to articulate clearly and concisely in one paragraph or less, his or her USP, most business owners have no answer. Why? Because they have never thought through or offered a Unique Selling Proposition. Most only have a “a me too” rudderless business that feeds solely on the momentum of the marketplace.”
Jay Abraham
He’s so strong on this aspect of marketing because, without it, a supplier can be pigeonholed as a commodity provider, offering products or services that can be purchased for low cost and, in most cases, at a low margin.
It’s the opposite of being perceived as a valuing-adding partner with expertise that benefits the company buying the product or service.
Unfortunately, many event supply businesses often find themselves pigeon-holed in the commodity category.
That’s not a good place to be long-term. Profit margins get eroded while your overheads stay the same or even increase.
The danger of winning event work that is not in your sweet spot
When a firm works outside of its core capability or skill set, it can find itself:
- Working harder (achieving more turnover) than it ever has done before
- Making less profit than it did previously
Effectively, a firm in this situation is on a treadmill, doing lots and lots of jobs that add to turnover but yield very little in the way of margin.
How do you get off the diminishing returns merry-go-round?
The first thing to do is look at your margins and see where your business makes the best return on the work it does.
It would be best if you did more of this work and much less and eventually none of the lower margin, unprofitable work that you have been taking on.
It’s easy to say this but much harder to do, especially when you are already on the treadmill. But, if you want to get off, this is what you will have to do.
When they undertake this exercise, many companies are shocked at what they learn.
Jobs thought to be high value based on revenue are much less profitable than assumed.
More damaging, they are draining to the overall business, and can impact the areas making the best profits.
Usually, this is because they require skills and expertise that are not the business’s core strengths.
The second thing to do is move away from “Me Too” marketing tactics
And this is where we can help.
Work with us, and we will;
- Identify your USP or USPs
- Fix who it is you are best suited to serve and at which price points
- Articulate the pressure that you relieve or the problems you solve for your target client base
- Show you how to market your business based on the above