Every Business Needs a Unique Strategic Position

It’s easy to say that there is one key factor that makes a business successful, but we all know that is not the case, however there is one factor that makes marketing your business much easier and that is to have a unique strategic position (USP). A USP is a factor that makes your business, product or service stand out from the crowd.Within the companies I have run, it is a factor that has made the difference between businesses that have been easy and pleasurable to run and those that have been hard work.Your ideal potential customers are looking at your industry and trying to decide who to buy from. Generally they do not have the time or expertise to evaluate which company is the best for them, so they look at what is unique about the options the companies offer. Most people assume that everything else about these options is the same. Your USP is what will make you stand out from the other businesses in your market.For example, in my latest venture, www.myownshirts.com, we researched the other players in the market to identify what they don’t do that we can – the first step in creating your USP.Even if you already have something that distinguishes your business from the others in your market, it is a process you should still go through on a regular basis – every market changes and you need to keep your business one step ahead.Of the many different things that you can use in any specific market, there are three main factors that you can use in any market to ensure that you have a message that will separate your business from the other businesses in the same market.

• Your unique processes and staff
• Your materials and resources
• Your ethos

We found a USP in each of these areas. This may be important because when you find a company that can match you in one area, it is unlikely they will match you in all three.

Building it the right way

In the mid 80’s, when Coors wanted to take Coors beer from a local brand to a national brand, they ran a series of adverts that talked about the process they used to create their beer, picking on specific elements that distinguished them from the competition in the mind of the customer. This simple process of educating the market about their USP allowed them to go from a local brand to a national brand in a few months and then to an international brand.With www.myownshirts.com, how we make the shirts is a key USP. Most companies use mass-production dual-needle sewing machines to close most of the seams. Whilst this is fast, cheap and can be done by less skilled operatives, the two rows of stitching can result in distortion after washing which will spoil the clean line of the shirt. The only way to avoid this is to use single needle stitching, which is harder and more expensive, but the results are worth it.Whatever your USP, you must be able to identify why it is important to the customer. Sometimes your USP can simply be that you tell your market what you do, even though everyone else is doing the same thing.

Using the right materials

There are several ways you can distinguish the materials you use, it could be cost, quality or source that can be the distinctive factor. How often is the country of origin used in the description of a product to justify the higher price – French wine, German engineering, Swiss watch etc.Initially, we launched www.myownshirts.com with good quality fabrics, but then we realised that having the very finest fabrics would further distinguish our product in the market. Many of the competitors use the same low price fabrics that you find in the supermarkets, so this was an ideal area that we could create a real distinction.So how can you distinguish your product? Is it possible to create a USP that your competitors will struggle to compete with?

What do you stand for?

It does not have to be something tangible, it can be part of your ethos and the way your customers see you. Richard Branson is a master of this; he has built several of multi-national businesses that enjoy a massive loyal customer base. They are among the best in their market, but it is their ethos that matters more than what they do or how they do it.One thing that we realised early on is that most consumers have no idea that a lot of the cheap clothing on sale in our shops involved slave labour at some point in the production process. Within myownshirts.com, we are keen to ensure that the shirts we produce are slavery free. This includes tracing the supply chain back to the cotton plantations. Most people have no idea that slavery in the clothing industry is a big problem, so this is something we will again have to publicise.So, by combining the highest standards of craftsmanship with the finest ethically sourced fabrics, we aim to create a USP in the market that will challenge the other providers.It is early days with MyOwnShirts.com, but we have a strategy and are starting the process of developing the ways of publicising these factors.

How is your business unique?

Once you know your USP, your marketing message gets much easier.If you do not find, create or identify your USP then your sales process becomes hard work and always a challenge. Marketing is doing the hard work that makes the sales process easy. Your unique strategic position is a key element in the process.Whatever your USP, the challenge is that most customers do not know the difference, so having a USP is only the start – the next step is educating the audience so that they know the difference.

What is the USP of your business? Do you have a strategy for publicising your USP? Tell us in the comments!

About the Author:Chris Ball is a serial entrepreneur who is currently building two businesses. He is founder and CEO of http://cherrypitsolutions.com a marketing consultancy that specialises in helping businesses generate rapid growth. Chris is also co-founder and head of marketing at www.MyOwnShirts.com a global provider of bespoke, customer designed shirts. Chris started his first business in 1987 and has run various businesses on a continuous basis ever since. Check out Chris' blog or find his company on Facebook and Twitter.