Spiritual Marketing Articles

What is Your Unique Serving Proposition?

If you have taken marketing courses or read marketing books, you'll know that USP normally stands for "Unique Selling Proposition." Your USP is what Jay Abraham calls "the philosophical foundation of your business." It's a statement that illustrates your distinguishing advantage over others in your field providing similar services or products. It is that which makes you unique.

And in an uncertain economy, your unique ability to help clients with specific, necessary services and products could be a deciding factor in whether (or how long) you are able to stay in business.

As a marketing coach and writer working with body, mind, spirit professionals, it seemed to me that the idea of "selling proposition" might be better worded as a "serving proposition." Our purpose, after all, is to help people have their needs met, whether they are the "basic" needs of shelter and clothing or the "higher" needs of self-fulfillment and spiritual growth.

There's nothing wrong with "selling." It's something we have to do in order for people to buy from us. But for crafting a one sentence USP, I think it will put us in a better frame of mind if we call it our Unique Serving Proposition.

So - how do you propose to serve your prospects and clients with something that's both unique to you and absolutely needed by your targeted market? What are people interested in RIGHT NOW?

If you're an investment counselor, your clients are probably most interested in containing the shrinking of their retirement portfolios. Your USP could assert: "I help you keep your nest egg secure with qualified advice about safe retirement investing." Security is Maslow's Number 2 need. With this USP, your target clientele are people who are "of an age" and who have funds available for retirement planning. Your business niche could be "retirement planning for baby boomers."

If you're an herbalist, you could specialize in weight management for the 65 percent of us who are overweight. A psychic could focus on career readings to help people through economically uncertain times. A Feng Shui practitioner could consider a niche helping trade show and expo exhibitors improve the traffic flow into their booths.

The respective USP's might read:

1) I'm a holistic weight loss consultant. I help you free yourself of excess pounds with non-toxic, non-addictive herbal remedies.

2) I'm the job psychic. Come see me, and I'll "see" where your career is headed.

3) I do Feng Shui consultations for trade shows. I help trade show exhibitors create an energy flow that attracts booth visitors by the hundreds.

In each of these examples, you're addressing a specific need and then providing a solution for a targeted audience that requires your services.

What's your Unique Serving Proposition?

(Barbara Casey is author of the niche marketing course "Marketing with a Mission" and host of http://www.newradiance.com - over 90 pages of inspired marketing ideas for small business owners.)

Focus and USP