All marketers can learn from the dedication, preparation and planning of Olympic athletes. In this series of posts will put that into perspective when preparing your own marketing plan.

Here are the posts in this 5-part series:

Today, we talk about crafting a Unique Selling Proposition that will dazzle your customers like an Olympic gymnast.

People are crazy about Olympic gymnastics. There was even a whole episode of Seinfeld where Jerry dates a former Romanian Olympic gymnast and talks about the incredible things she did on the balance beam. The routines these athletes create are unique, showcasing the best of their skills.

Unique Selling Propositions: Making it Look As Easy As The Olympic Balance Beam

When determining what makes your product and organization stand out, being precise and creative can turn a meaningful statement into one that misses the mark. The unique selling proposition (“USP”) began as a way to grasp effective advertising in the 1940s. Today, it assists marketers in setting their products and companies apart from others. It directs the marketer’s internal efforts and can even refine marketing messages by providing a clear understanding of the unique benefits your product offers to customers.

The USP is something the marketer uses to make what they do look effortless. Much like the gymnasts who “need incredible strength, control and balance, combined with speed” the marketer with a clear USP that knows how to integrate it into daring and ambitious campaigns will translate into a message that dazzles your customer. From the official Olympics 2012 website, “Judged against such exacting criteria, the smallest extra step, wobble, misalignment or mistake in a routine can make all the difference. Gymnasts must not lose concentration for a moment.” Marketers who stick to emphasizing the benefits discovered through their USP, who stay the course and keep a focused message will win top scores from their target market.

Steps to Crafting a Unique Selling Proposition That Works

Step 1: List Benefits – To get started in crafting your own USP, start out by listing the three biggest benefits to your customer in buying your product. Focus on benefits, not features. A benefit tells the customer “what’s in it for me” i.e. the problem your product solves for the customer, while a feature is how your product delivers that.

Step 2: List Differentiators – list the three biggest things that set you apart from your competition. These are the things that make your business unique. Look for benefits you confer that others are either not doing well enough or not at all.

Step 3: List “Pain Points” and “Performance Gaps” – pain points are the customers’ unfulfilled needs. Performance gaps are the areas where the current market does not fulfill those needs. These are opportunities for your business to swoop in, stick the landing, and go home a champion.

Step 4: Focus on the Unique Points – you should have list of beneficial attributes about your product and company. Hone in on the ones that fill the performance gaps, the places where no one else is hitting the customers’ need. Try to get this down to 3 to 5 options at most. Then open up a new Power Point deck and create a slide for each statement – try to find a visual that expresses the idea as well as adding sparse words to the slide (and please follow my rules for not sucking at Power Point).

Step 5: Talk it Out With Customers – try to schedule 5 to 10 interviews with customers to talk about the USP you are developing. The idea is not to bore them with the mechanisms behind USPs, rather you want to see their reaction to each of the USPs you are developing. Engage them in a real conversation and use their feedback to further hone your USP.

Step 6: Integrate Your New USP – at this point you should be able to articulate your USP. Use it to drive the rest of your marketing strategy and to make sure that you stay within the core message of what you are doing whenever you try new things. Also, as the business evolves, always review the USP to make sure it is still relevant to what you are doing and what your customers want.

Focus on What You Can Do for Your Customer

Remember, unique selling propositions are all about focusing on what you can do for your customer. When crafting yours and thinking about how to integrate it into marketing copy and campaigns always try to think about what the customer needs to know to make the best decision. Marketing that does this is engaging, simple and effective. Make the buying decision process simple for your customer with a clear articulation of how this product will make their lives better. Do this and you will stick that landing to the sale like an Olympic gymnast.