A unique selling proposition (USP) will help you differentiate yourself from other businesses in your industry. As a healthcare vendor, a strong USP can help you stand apart from competitors. Leveraging your USP through branding, marketing, and sales is foundational to your success.

In today’s article, we’ll cover the basics of USPs, why setting your business apart is essential, and how to craft a USP your clients can’t resist.

Quick Takeaways:

• Your unique selling proposition is what makes your company different from every other business.
• Without a USP, potential customers could see you as bland, untrustworthy, or outdated.
• To craft your USP, you must know what makes your business unique, understand your target audience, and address a prevalent problem.
• Collect customer feedback, brainstorm ideas with your team, combine and cut down essential points, and then test and solidify your USP.
• You can use your finalized USP for marketing, advertising, and communicating about your business – both internally and externally.

What is a Unique Selling Proposition?

Your USP, also called a value proposition, is what makes your company different from every other business. If you’re in a competitive market, setting yourself apart is vital. If you don’t, you could get buried beneath all the other businesses vying for your clients’ attention.

In a nutshell, your USP should instantly tell people:

• What makes your brand, product, or service unique
• How you can solve a relevant problem
• The main benefits of your brand, product, or service

It should also focus on what your clients value most while assertively articulating your position. It’s where what your business does best overlaps with what your customers want most.

How to Create a USP as a Healthcare Vendor

Without a value proposition, potential customers could see you as bland, untrustworthy, or outdated. Follow these eight steps to build a USP that helps you stand out, get noticed, and win and retain loyal customers.

1. Answer “What Makes You Different?”

What is it that makes your company truly unique? You may know instantly. Or you may have to do some brainstorming and research to determine the element(s) that makes you different from others in your space. Studying your competitors’ USPs can help.

Your USP could have to do with your customer service, technology, how or why your business started, or a specific niche you serve as a healthcare vendor. Maybe your service is faster, your products are of the highest quality in your industry, or your company is highly innovative. Whatever your differentiator is, make sure it resonates with your target market.

2. Study Your Audience

Continue your research by learning more about your target audience and current customers. Who are they? Hint: you’re not here to serve everyone. Narrow down on a specific niche of customers you can serve best.

Get inside their heads to learn what they want, the challenges they face, and how you can solve their problem. Why should they choose you over a competitor? Make sure you know who you’re targeting with your USP so you can be specific and authentic.

3. Solve a Relevant Problem 

What problem is your business solving? Again, look through your customers’ eyes to understand the challenges they face and how you can step in and make their lives easier. As Simon Sinek says, “They don’t buy what you do. They buy why you do it.” People don’t simply desire your product or service. They want you to solve a pressing problem. Explain how you can meet an immediate need through your USP.

4. Get Client Feedback

Another resource for discovering your USP is your current customer base. You can speak directly with your sales and customer service teams for quotes and customer feedback. You’ll learn about what your business is doing well and what you may need to work on. Chances are, more than one client has brought up the same reason your business stands out to them.

You could also send out surveys, review call transcripts and customer feedback forms, and look at reviews. More than likely, you’ll find some gold nuggets to support your USP.

5. Brainstorm What Makes Your Company Irresistible

Get your marketing team together for a brainstorming session. All hands on deck! This is where you can take all of the research you’ve collected so far and put it together. Throw as many ideas up on the whiteboard as you can. You’ll likely go through several versions of your USP before nailing it.

At this point, there’s no wrong answer. You’re just getting everyone’s ideas out in the open so you can analyze everything at once. In the next step, you’ll organize the information into a clear, concise summary.

6. Write Your Elevator Pitch

Pull the best elements of your brainstorm into a clear-cut elevator pitch. Remember to address each of the following questions:

• Who do you serve?
• How can you solve a problem?
• What makes you unique?
• Why should someone choose you over every other competitor?

Once you combine your best information into a cohesive, 1-3-sentence blurb, work it and rework it until it’s what you want. Often, the shorter, the better. Short USPs can be easier to remember, catchy, and easily identifiable.

7. Review and Test Your USP

Next, it’s time to test your USP by bringing in other team members, managers, departments, and stakeholders. Gather constructive feedback, and then make edits to finalize your USP. Don’t rush the process. Your USP will represent your business and influence your future marketing and sales campaigns, so it’s essential to get it right.

8. Communicate Your USP

If you’ve made it this far, congratulations! Forming a strong USP is no walk in the park. It takes focus, intent, lots of research, and patience. Your organization can now use your powerful USP to communicate effectively, target potential customers, and reiterate what makes you different – while keeping everyone on the same page. You can use it for healthcare marketing, advertising, and messaging.

Content Marketing for Healthcare Vendors

Share Moving Media is a leading content and publishing company for healthcare manufacturers and distributors. If you’re looking to increase market share, profitability, and mind share, we’d love to partner with you. 

Contact us to learn more.