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What's Beyond Your USP?
By: Joe Vitale
I was on the phone with my friend Mark Joyner, president of Aesop Marketing, Internet pioneer and best-selling author.
We were talking about a new direction for my career. Now that I've gone through the phases of being a hypnotic writer, an outrageous marketer, a hypnotic marketer and a spiritual marketer, what's next for me?
"What's your USP?" Mark asked me.
A USP is a "unique selling proposition." It's one line that states what you do that is different than what your competition does. Rosser Reeves invented the term in the 1950s. Dan Kenney, Jay Abraham and myself have used it to help our clients get clear about what their business offers. Mark was helping me to do the same thing with my own business.
"I've gone through so many USPs that today I don't even use one," I explained. "I was thinking of just dropping it altogether."
Mark didn't miss a beat.
"What is Wayne Dyer's USP?" he asked me.
"I have no idea," I replied. "He's a self-help author of many best-selling books."
"That's right," Mark said. "And what is Deepak Chopra's USP?"
Again, I couldn't think of one. Deepak is a health oriented author of many best-selling books. But as for his USP, I had no idea. There are other self-help authors and other health authors, so what is unique about Dyer or Chopra is their being, or essence, or brand.
Mark's questions were beginning to help me see that at a certain point you can go beyond a need for a USP. After all, when I thought about this, I couldn't decide what the USP was for Dan Kennedy, Jay Abraham, or even myself, and we're all spokespeople for the need for USPs!
"What we're really talking about here is building your own brand," Mark explained to me. "People are on your email list because they want to know about you and what you are doing. They are following Dr. Joe Vitale. Focusing on your brand is probably wiser than focusing on your USP at this time."
Mark is right, of course.
At a certain point in your business life you have to leave the USP and focus on the brand. After all, even Federal Express dropped their USP ("When you absolutely need it overnight"), and Dominio's also dropped their USP ("Fresh hot pizza delivered in 30 minutes or its free"). Now they live on their brand images.
So, where are you?
Do you have a USP? Is it truly unique? And have you had it long enough to drop it and now create a brand for yourself?
The way to answer these questions is like this:
1. If you already have a USP, good for you. Be sure it is truly unique. If no one else can make the claim you do, than it is unique.
2. If you have been using your USP with great success for more than ten years, you may be already building a brand image.
3. If your USP has been in circulation over ten years, your business is ripping and roaring and making you a millionaire, then you can consider going beyond your USP. It may be time to now focus on your brand.
Now take an honest look at your business.
Where do you stand?
The next step is yours.
Go for it!
About the Author
Dr. Joe Vitale is the author of way too many books to list here. His latest title is "The Attractor Factor:
5 Easy Steps for Creating Wealth (or anything else)From the Inside Out." Register for his monthly complimentary ezine at http://www.mrfire.com
His Executive Mentoring Program is described at http://www.joe-vitale-executive-mentoring.com/
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