How to Define Your USP and Increase Conversions on Your SEO Content

Many SEO professionals focus on the power of SEO content to increase Google rankings and drive traffic. And why SEO content certainly does work to keep new website visitors coming in, it doesn’t automatically turn those visitors into customers.

The missing piece is Conversions – actions taken by website visitors to transform them into leads, subscribers, customers, or clients. This is the ultimate goal of SEO content… to make you money!

But enticing visitors to take action isn’t always easy. Generic or even formulaic SEO content just isn’t compelling enough to get users itching for your offer.

That’s where having a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) comes in.

In this juicy guide, I’m going to define what a USP is, help you define yours, and teach you how to use it to increase conversions on your SEO content.

Vamanos!

What is a Unique Selling Proposition?

A unique selling proposition is a positioning statement that brands embody that differentiates them from their competitors. In other words, your USP is a declaration of what makes you special compared to other brands in your niche.

Typically, your USP highlights one defining benefit that makes you stand out from your competitors. However, sometimes, it may encompass several selling points all rolled into one.

What a Unique Selling Proposition Isn’t

A unique selling proposition is not a tagline, nor does it apply to specific marketing offers, like “free shipping”, “25% off”, “buy one, get one”, or “24/7 customer service”. While these offers may be enticing, they’re not particularly unique to your brand, as they can be easily copied by your competitors.

There is a bit of a grey area when it comes to characteristics like “family-owned” or “great customer service”, as these aren’t very strong either. Your goal in defining your USP should be to highlight something that’s overall unique to your brand and positions you as superior to your competitors.

Does Every Brand NEED a USP?

Yes – Every brand needs a compelling USP if they want to differentiate themselves from their competition.

Now, I will say that many brands have a USP even if they haven’t taken the time to intentionally define it. This often happens once a business gains experience in their industry and naturally fine-tunes their language to appeal to the interests of their target audience.

However, I always encourage brands to intentionally define their USPs because it makes creating content and attracting customers way easier. You’re essentially able to hook your audience faster – making your marketing campaigns more effective – when you make it clear why you’re the best.

Why?

Defining your USP helps you focus your marketing on highlighting the very best selling points of your brand. It influences every area of your messaging – from brand materials to social media content to web copywriting and beyond. 

Without a USP, you may be left scrambling trying to communicate why your brand is better than your competitors. Potential customers need this information in order to decide who to work with or what products to buy. 

If you can’t explain how your brand is different, don’t be surprised when customers don’t see the big deal in why they should work with or buy from you.

How to Define Your Unique Selling Proposition

Now, I’m going to help you define what your USP is so you can start writing content that rocks. After all, the goal is to hook your website visitors in and start making that $$$$$!

Defining your unique selling point is pretty easy, especially if you know your target audience already. If you don’t, don’t worry. I’ve got steps for that too!

What Does Your Audience Care About?

There’s no use in writing a USP that has nothing to do with what your audience actually cares about. That’s why I DON’T recommend writing it out of thin air. Instead, you got to do a bit of market research.

Here’s how you figure out what your audience cares about:

1. Create a survey using Google Forms to ask your audience some questions about your offer.
2. Ask your audience what it is that they are looking for when it comes to your products, the services you offer, or in working with brands like you.
3. Also, ask them what their biggest struggles are and how they imagine your product/service being a solution to their problem.
4. Finally, ask them what issues/complaints they have about your competitors.

I recommend trying to get at least 10 people (from your target audience) to respond to this survey so you can get a pretty idea of what they’re looking for. The more responses, the better.

Then, tally up the most common responses to each question.

These should give you a pretty good idea of 1) what your audience is struggling with, 2) what they’re looking for when it comes to services/products like yours, and 3) why they don’t love your competitors.

With this information, you can pick out some selling points that may be of importance to your audience and then position your brand above your competitors.

What Makes You Different from Your Competitors?

Suppose the most common response to the question “What are you looking for when it comes to SEO content?” is “high-quality content”.

Then suppose that the most common answer to “What don’t you like about other SEO content providers?” is “poor quality work”.

In this case, it’s pretty obvious that your unique selling proposition could be that you provide “high-quality content” – content that’s far superior to that of other content providers.

This can easily be your key differentiator.

In reviewing your survey responses, consider what characteristics you have that your competitors don’t have – and which of those seem to be most important to your target audience. Brainstorm a list of things that make you different and then hone in on the ones that make the strongest case for your brand.

A Great USP Should Be…

• Focused on what your audience values: What does your audience care about and can you offer something your competitors don’t provide?
• More than a tagline: A punchy slogan is great, but your USP should apply to all of your brand messaging. It’s something you embody in all of your content, across all platforms.
• Defensible: You should be able to make a case for why your brand is better than the competition and why customers should choose you over “the other guy”.
• Straightforward: No need to get fancy with your language. Your USP can be as simple as you saying what you do, who you serve, and what makes you unique.

Your USP “Formula”

While there is no set formula for writing a great USP, I did like this fill-in-the-blank version from Shopify that helps brands define their USP:

“[YOUR BRAND] offers [PRODUCT/SERVICE] for [TARGET MARKET] to [VALUE PROPOSITION].

Unlike [THE ALTERNATIVE], we [KEY DIFFERENTIATOR].”

Without this formula, I’ve defined my brand’s (Keys&Copy) USP as “Engaging Content with an SEO Edge”. This is based on my market research that found that SEO professionals (my target audience) are looking for “engaging”, “search engine optimized” content.

I have since expanded this to include descriptors like “consistent” and “high-quality”. So, the formula version of my USP may be something like:

“Keys&Copy offers SEO content services to marketing agencies and SEO providers looking to generate more traffic and leads for their clients. Unlike other SEO content providers, we offer 100% original, engaging content, ensuring the consistent quality marketers are looking for.”

This USP sets me apart from SEO writers who may focus on price, experience level, or other factors that don’t speak to or resonate with my unique target audience.

Your unique selling proposition can be a simple yet assertive statement that states what makes your brand different from your competitors. With your market research in hand, try to hone in on what makes your brand unique based on the interests of your audience.

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