by Jeff Reynolds, CCC President

Can I ask you something? It’s personal question and since you’re reading this blog under the pretense (I hope) that it’s all business, I think it is only fair that warn you.

Ready? Here’s my question:

What’s your unique selling proposition?

Not your company’s USP? YOUR—you, know “brand you”—unique selling proposition?

One sentence, please.

Struggling? Try filling in the blanks:

____________ is the ONE THING that sets me apart from my competition.

or

What sets me better is _____________.

Still struggling? I’m not surprised. It’s a crazy exercise. Nobody can be reduced down to “one thing” that differentiates them. Humans are too complex. Too dimensional. Too interesting.

And so is your brand.

(Or at least it should be.)

Conventional marketing wisdom teaches that every person, product, brand, and company needs a USP. Hogwash.

While USPs can be a useful tool in helping you focus your business purpose or brand personality, they don’t work on their own. Why? Because out here in the real world, the best brands are like people. They have depth. Even a little soul.

I’m not suggesting you shouldn’t spend time concretely defining what makes your brand unique. But if you stop there, without putting the extra effort in to ensure that you are actually interesting—through a point of view, electric personality, etc.—your brand will likely not only be forgotten, it will never be noticed in the first place.