You Need a Unique Selling Proposition for Your Business Before You Start Internet Marketing

Do you know what is the Unique Selling Proposition of your business? In other words, what benefit do you offer that your competition doesn't offer?

Let's take an imaginary example to see how this plays out in Internet marketing:

You have a food gift basket business and you ship throughout the country. You offer overnight shipping as well as the other shipping options that all the food gift basket businesses offer.

If you don't want to compete on prices - and I wouldn't advise this as a USP for your particular business, what could you offer that makes your baskets stand out? (We're assuming that the photos of your baskets featured on your website are as beautiful as the photos of other companies' food gift baskets on their websites.)

Here's a possible USP for health conscious customers:

You include the ingredients of every item in your baskets - maybe even the calories in each item. Consider offering, for example, gluen-free food baskets to people who can't tolerate gluten in their food. In addition, you are more than happy to swap out products for other products in your featured baskets. This is a very important benefit for people who might be allergic to just one ingredient - such as carrots.

Now you definitely can create a promotional campaign around this Unique Selling Proposition. You promote your company's focus on providing for the different food considerations of a wide range of people, including offering ethic and regional food options in your baskets.

Now you might be saying: That's nice for an online business, but what about my brick-and-mortar business?

How about the example of you as a children's dentist in a large city with a great deal of competition? And the competition features cool video games and other electronic gadgets that fill the waiting room with loud noises that drive the parents nuts.

You could position your USP as the "quiet waiting room children's dentist" - and promote this on your website and in your social media marketing.

How would this USP work and still keep the children occupied?

Headphones and little video screens attached to every chair in the waiting room. The kids are thrilled with the ability to make their own choices for their entertainment - and with the added benefit of not having to share with their brother or sister. Parents are thrilled to have some peace and quiet. They can either also plug in, or use their own quiet electronic devices to keep up with their own projects.

In conclusion, creating an effective USP requires going "outside the box" to think of benefits that, while not necessarily directly part of your products or services, do influence the satisfaction of your customers/clientele.

If you have a compelling USP, you will be able to use numerous Internet marketing strategies to promote this USP.