Every business should have a unique selling proposition (UPS) but it doesn’t have to come down to a single product or service that no one else has.

For a micro-business, unless you have a never-before-seen product or service, your uniqueness comes from the blend of YOU and the way in which you package, present or position your business.

It’s not enough to simply offer ‘great customer service’ or ‘commitment to quality products’.

These things are great (and essential) but because almost everyone offers these things (or claims to offer these things) they don’t stand out in the consumer’s mind.

Companies with great USPs

M&Ms chocolate and Coca Cola are often given as prime examples of businesses having great USPs.

M&Ms: The chocolate melts in your mouth, not in your hands.

Coca cola: It’s the real thing.

Yet M&Ms were not the first company to produce a small flat chocolate disc encased in a coloured sugar coating.

Smarties had already done it, years earlier. M&Ms were the first to put it into succintly into a slogan.

The only thing ‘real’ about Coca Cola is that it is indeed, the brand of cola known as Coca Cola.

But the term, ‘the real thing’ sets up an expectation in consumers’ mind that this product is genuine and trustworthy.

The term also has a grassroots coolness about it.

Together with the marketing campaigns, ‘the real thing’ also projects an image of youth. It identifies itself with the vigour and excitement of youth culture.

Ads for Coca Cola in 2009

These are a couple of examples of how Coca-Cola is promoting its  products during 2009:

Diet Coca-Cola:

Is being heavily marketed to women.

We have ads showing on Australia television promoting this type of Coca-Cola as a fashion statement – at least, as being the shape of a women in a ‘little black dress’.

Named ‘Diet Cola – The little black dress‘ - a fashion show kicked off the promotion, featuring little black dresses created by top Australian and international designers.

 Zero Coca-Cola

Is being marketed to youth.

The latest ad for Coke Zero on Australian television rolls through like an action-packed movie clip.

The lead male puts himself through a quick series of impossibly high-risk manoeuvres, and still manages to impress the girl.

Branding your business

Your UPS, being the thing that sticks in consumers minds, is part of your brand.

Clever Streak, a content-writing business, has recently been rethinking their brand.

On the Clever Streak blog, owner Anne Maybus was pondering what it takes to capture the hearts of consumers and clients.

Anne found this great quote to sum up what it’s all about:

“What”s a brand? A singular idea or concept that you own inside the mind of the prospect.” – Al Ries

 

 This is a thought-provoking statement, because it takes focus away from what you might want your brand to be, and places focus on what your customers or clients want to see represented in your brand.

When shopping for an item or service, customers want to know what the benefit is to them in buying from you.

The online dilemma

Online, you can reach buyers that you could not have reached before without expensive advertising campaigns.

But of course, it goes both ways.

Buyers also have more reach – theyoften  have the choice of dozens or even hundreds of businesses to buy from when looking for a particular product or service.

What makes you stand out?

What can buyers gain from you that they can’t get anywhere else?

What will buyers remember you by?

When they describe your business to their friends, what phrases will they use?

Can you sum up your business in ten or less words?

Can you sum up your business in ten or less compelling words that contain something unique about your business and that identify your brand?