I finished up last week with a post encouraging you “to think about your USP” or, Unique Selling Proposition. Now I’d like to cover why.
For You
Defining your USP is first and foremost about you. The process of focusing on the three words – Unique. Selling. Proposition. – forces you to think differently about who you are and what you do and therefore it expands your thoughts about yourself.
This expansion is important for two reasons:
- It opens your eyes to possibilities and opportunities you haven’t seen before.
- It opens your eyes to how others view you. You can’t think about selling without thinking about a buyer and you can’t think about a proposition (question or offer) without also thinking about an answer (and the answerer).
All of which means that knowing your USP will help you tell people who you are and what you do in terms of what matters to them.
For Others
This is important because no one wants the thing that you do, they want the result it gives THEM. Here’s what I mean: the North American market for drill bits is $740 million per year (extremehowto.com). But nobody wants to buy a drill bit, people want holes.
Note that even though the goal of defining your USP is to have a short description/explanation of what you do, you may not ever actually use it in that form. You are not writing a slogan to put on a billboard, you are organizing your thoughts so you can tell people who you are and what you do in terms of what matters to them (yes, I’m repeating myself).
Because…
For Your Career
You cannot build a successful, long-term career in the music business without understanding and focusing on what matters to your potential fans/customers.
So, what’s your USP?
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