Ever heard the marketing term USP? It stands for Unique Selling Point and it's the fancy way of saying:
Why should or would someone choose to work with or buy from me?
And it's an incredibly important question when you're setting up your business, and every time you do a little business audit.
Chances are you're not the only one that does what you do. I mean, you're operating in a market, with peers who offer similar services or products. Perhaps not entirely the same, but there are other artists/coaches/creators who also run businesses, market themselves to find clients or customers and thusly create content.
Taking on a follower role here can mean your business, marketing and content can disappear into a sea of same-ness. So I'm going to encourage you to be a leader (bear with me) in your industry by focusing on not really what you do, but how you do it differently.
This shifts the focus from being a business that provides a service/sells a product to being a business that specialises in a specific *result*.
You still with me?
Here are 5 steps you can take to figure out how you differently so you can start infusing your marketing with what sets you apart.
What do your clients or customers get in a tangible way? What’s measurable in the work you do with/for them? This could be what they perhaps feel they’re paying for.
What is the big result of what you do? What and how do your clients or customers feel and experience when working with you/purchasing from you? What changes in their perspective during this time? How do you meet their emotional needs? What they perhaps don’t realise they’re paying for?
This can encompass anything at all, and is usually linked to what you value as an individual and business.
Where did your business come from? Why do you do what you do? Where did you learn your skills? When did you identify the need within yourself to start or grow your business? Why are you invested in your people? Why do you care about them and want to build community around them?
How does your story relate to what's important to you? How do those tie back to the emotional benefits of working with or buying from you? And how do those weave themselves into the functional benefits?
This likely won't just leave with how you do it differently, but you'll have a better understanding of your own story that you can even update your website About page too! 🙌
And now that you have a better understanding, how can you use any of those points in your marketing? Just looking at notes or lists, you should get a bunch of content ideas you can flesh out and develop into a marketing plan that conveys not just what you do, but how you do it differently to connect with those people looking for/needing/desiring that very result you offer.
How do you do it differently? I would love to cheer you on in your journey of brand intimacy ♡ Find me on Instagram, slide into my DMs and let me know!
If you’re filled with ambition and purpose and looking for branding and business support that helps you achieve your vision, you’re in the right place.
I’m a brand and website designer with an approach centred on intimacy, so you’ll see that word a lot here.
I’m also a red wine enthusiast, amateur vegetable gardener, mom to an adventurous 5 year old, whippet lover with a thing for ginger cats and Cape Town local who loves the ocean.
