Unique Selling Points: From Option to Only Choice
Brand Materials is a guided series exploring the foundations of brand strategy, from purpose and positioning to voice, personality, and emotional connection. Each piece is written to guide you through the thinking behind branding, step by step.
So far, you’ve explored why your brand exists (purpose), what it stands for (values), where it’s headed (vision), and how that direction shows up in your work (mission).
This entry focuses on what makes your brand recognizable in a crowded field: not just another choice, but the only choice.
What is a Unique Selling Point?
Your Unique Selling Point (USP) is the reason your ideal client chooses you over anyone else. It makes your brand feel like not just another option, but the obvious choice.
Picture yourself in the bread aisle. There are rows of near-identical loaves. Some shoppers reach for organic sourdough because it’s small-batch and natural. Others grab a soft white loaf out of comfort. A few need gluten-free for dietary reasons. The bread isn’t radically different, but the positioning is.
Even if your offer isn’t wildly unique, how you frame it (the values behind it, the story it tells, the way it meets real needs) helps to make it unforgettable for the right people.
From Being Different to Being the Only Choice
Different alone isn’t enough. Loud colors, quirky copy, or a surprising niche might make someone pause, but its not always enough to make them stay.
You can be unexpected and still forgettable if you don’t connect with what your audience actually wants, needs, or believes in.
Relevance makes uniqueness matter. When your USP mirrors an unspoken frustration or desire, that’s the moment people stop scrolling, stop comparing, and lean in with the understanding that this is the one.
People don’t want another option. They want to feel like they’ve found the one brand that understands them.
How to Define Your Unique Selling Point
Your USP comes from paying attention to your audience, your industry, and yourself. Here are three places to look:
Uncover your audience’s deeper needs
Surface-level wants (“a logo,” “a website,” “a course”) are rarely the real driver behind a purchase. What people actually want is relief from doubt, friction, and overwhelm. A strong USP meets those unspoken needs and makes someone feel seen.
Ask yourself:
What keeps my ideal client second-guessing or stalling?
What do they quietly crave but rarely admit?
What would they type into Google at 11pm the night before they’d hire me?
What do I want them to feel when they land in my world?
Spot gaps in your industry
Most markets are full of similar services, copy, and promises. Strategic gaps appear in what’s missing, overlooked, or underdelivered.
Ask yourself:
What do I wish existed in my industry but rarely see?
What do clients consistently complain about or settle for?
What frustrates me about how others deliver this work?
Define your approach
Your USP isn’t just about what you do but how you do it. Your values, process, philosophy, and lived experience create an approach that can’t be replicated. When you articulate that, your brand stops being interchangeable.
Ask yourself:
If a past client described me to a friend, what would they highlight?
What do I refuse to do that others in my field rely on?
If I had to design a single offer that embodied everything I believe in, what would it look like?
Positioning Your Brand Through Your USP
Imagine two service providers offering the same role.
One says: “I offer virtual assistance for admin and inbox management.”
Another says: “I hold the back-end so intuitive founders can lead without losing clarity or energy.”
The service hasn’t changed, but the positioning has. That shift reframes the work from task-based support to trusted partnership. It changes who reaches out, how conversations unfold, and what the work is worth.
Writing Your Unique Selling Point
Once you’ve identified your brand’s uniqueness, the next step is putting it into words your audience can understand and remember.
Your USP should be clear enough to guide decisions inside your business and compelling enough to make the right people invested.
Here’s a formula to follow:
We (what you do) in a way that (what makes you unique), so that (the transformation or benefit they achieve).
Examples:
We create personalized skincare routines using wild-harvested Nordic botanicals, clinically proven to soothe sensitive and eczema-prone skin, so that eco-conscious women can enjoy high-end, sustainable skincare that heals and protects.
We design minimalist, sensory-rich spaces using tactile textures and soft lighting, so that wellness-conscious homeowners can create a sanctuary that calms the mind and restores energy.
We make gourmet, plant-based pastries using heirloom grains and natural fermentation, so that food lovers can enjoy rich, complex flavors without refined sugar or dairy.
Your USP statement should feel simple, memorable, and rooted in benefit. The goal is for someone outside your industry to easily be able to repeat back your USP without being confused by jargon.
How To Put Your USP into Action
Here’s how to let your unique selling point shape the way people experience your brand:
Shape your offers around it
Let your USP inform what you do (and don’t) offer. If your strength is deep collaboration, create containers for depth, instead of plug-and-play courses that dilute it.
Carry it through your decisions
Naming, pricing, pacing, and structure all communicate your positioning. A USP rooted in accessibility might show up as clear frameworks or tiered options. One grounded in care might show up in slower launches and considered details.
Show it in action
Case studies, stories, and small moments of transparency do more than claims ever could. When people can see your USP in action, they don’t need convincing.
Repetition is recognition: the subtle, steady reinforcement of your USP.
Concluding Thoughts
When you stop hedging and start naming what you actually do best, your brand becomes easier to understand, easier to remember, and easier to choose.
Your brand moves from being “an option” to becoming a signal: a clear marker for the people who’ve been looking for what you offer.
Up Next: Exploring Brand Archetypes
With your positioning clear, the next question becomes less about what you offer and more about how it feels to encounter your brand.
In the next entry of Brand Materials, we’ll explore brand archetypes: a way of shaping tone, storytelling, and emotional connection so your brand feels consistent, recognisable, and human
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