If you want your business to stand out, it’s important to know why and how you do it differently but most importantly,  that you’re communicating it. Because no one will know why they should hire you over anyone else if you don’t tell them, right? Right! So let’s talk about what a UVP is, how to make a UVP for your business, and how you can use it to win over the competition.

What is a  UVP or unique value proposition?

A UVP, or unique value proposition (also known as a unique selling proposition or USP), is simply a statement created for your business to communicate how you’re different from the competition and why they should buy from you instead. 

How to make a UVP for your business

01. FIRST, MAKE A LIST OF ALL THE DISTINGUISHING FEATURES OF YOUR BUSINESS

These can be anything from words or sentences that describe your personality, process, style, niche, etc. For example, a list of some things that makes SHE IS BOLD different than other design studios are: 

• We specialize in personal branding for Christian women entrepreneurs

• We use data-driven strategies and a unique brand style curation process to strategically set our designs apart

• Our design style is bold (obvi), editorial, modern, edgy, and fun. 

If you’re struggling to make a list of unique features for your business, ask past clients why they hired you or friends and colleagues what they think make you unique.

02. SECOND, RESEARCH YOUR COMPETITORS AND COMPARE YOUR LIST OF FEATURES TO THEIRS.

Identify a handful of competitors then make a list of things that make them different from you for each one and put your list next to it.

03. LASTLY, CROSS OUT THE SIMILAR FEATURES BETWEEN YOU AND YOUR COMPETITOR AND EVALUATE WHAT’S LEFT.

From here, find the list of unique features that *also* best solves your ideal customers problem or need. This remaining list should not only show how you’re different than the competition, but how you serve your customers better than the competition.

Remember even if you have some overlap in features between your competitors, not all of them should be scratched off your list and not all of them should be added to your list. Below is a great visual example that shows how if it’s not a point of “relevance” for your ideal client, it’s not a distinguishing feature or the unique value proposition for your business.

Use theses steps to find the overlap between what your ideal client wants/needs and how do it better than the competition to stand out and then swipe this unique value proposition template to string it all together into one cohesive statement.

WRITE YOUR UVP. HERE’S A UVP TEMPLATE TO GET YOU STARTED:

Unlike COMPETITOR, YOUR BUSINESS NAME, DOES/MAKES/TEACHES/USES/ ___________ to solve problem/so that ideal client can…

Example: Unlike other brand design studios, SHE IS BOLD specializes in strategic personal branding so Christian women can get noticed in a saturated, “purpose-driven” marketplace  and be the unique and successful kingdom builder they were called to be.

Added this little blurb for emphasis to the end our UVP (and you can do something similar)….

Through our data-driven brand building and creative curation processes, we ensure you never have to worry about looking or sounding like anyone else again and you’ll be empowered with more clarity, confidence, and creativity than ever before.

Ok, you made a UVP, so now what? How can you use a UVP to benefit your business?

• Use your UVP to create your brand’s visual identity: Use some of the key words from your list of distinguishing features to guide the creative direction and brand identity creation for your business. 

For example, “bold”, “personal”, and “fun” were at the forefront of the creative direction for SHE IS BOLD because they were the key distinguishing features that speak to our ideal client from step 2 above.

Using the word “bold”, I brainstormed what that meant to me and my ideal clients and came up with other synonymous words including confident and powerful. From there, I used color psychologoy to come up with a black and white color combo paired with a pop of yellow. I also used the word “bold” in terms of my website design and went with large typography and imagery throughout for added drama.

Similarly, I used the word “personal” from the distinguishing feature that we specialize in personal branding, and instead of going for a website that looked like a traditional “studio” filled with portfolio work and no introduction to the designer or personalization anywhere…I opted for an overtly PERSONAL personal brand and website design. I made sure my face and branded photography were on it to show that difference and to visually champion other women to do the same.

• Use your UVP to attract ideal customers (or repel the not-ideal customers) with website copy: Again, using the SIB differentiating factors, I use messaging and phrasing like “data-driven”, “money metrics”, “strategy-first”, “results-oriented”, etc. across our website copy to highlight the fact that our data-driven process and strategy is unparalleled compared to others. Likewise, if someone isn’t down for a strategy-first approach, they can peace-out and I won’t be offended because strategy’s my unique, God-given thing 🙂 .

• Use your UVP as a guide for marketing content and future business decisions. As mentioned earlier, going through the process of what makes you unique isn’t just about you but your ideal client. For SHE IS BOLD, the main thing that clients say that they want and need is “something me” and “something different”. 

It’s my distinguishing features (data-driven, bold, personal, etc) that not only solve my ideal clients problem, but help create my content strategies each month. You can use those words and phrases as “content pillars” if you will, and create social media captions, blog posts, etc. to ensure you create relevant and valuable content for your audience. That’s why you’ll always find me talking about how to brand authentically, how to stand out, or “How to write a unique value proposition” so customers choose you over the competition ;).

When you include your ideal client in your UVP, you can use it as a guide for content creation and to steward more relevant content for your readers without wondering if it’s going to resonate or not.

These are just a few of the many ways that you can use one simple UVP statement and transform your brand… And why I’m so dang passionate about it! Make sure you’re on the newsletter list for when the SIB DIY Brand Strategy course launches and I talk all about many many more ways to use your UVP plussss all the other brand strategy elements you need to stand out and authentically scale your business💃.

KEEP IT BOLD,