Step 1 – Defining Your Unique Selling Proposition

By Alexa Divett, Maya Media Collective, LLC

At Maya Media Collective, we believe that the key to marijuana millions begins with knowing who you are and why you are unique, and then using this discovery to build your company’s brand and overall strategy for success.

The first step is to define your Unique Selling Proposition.

Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) is a marketing concept that is the foundation of your business and your brand. If the word “selling” turns you off, you can think of it as your Unique Market Proposition, or to make it more fun, your Unique Awesomeness.

Regardless of what you call it, it is imperative that you define it early on in your business.

Think of your USP as your reason for being.

Your USP is literally that which you propose to sell to your market that is unique from your competition. From the customer’s perspective it is the answer to the question, “Why should I do business with you?”

The USP should always come before your elevator speech and before your branding.

In fact, it is the driving force behind your branding, your niche, and your elevator speech.

Deciding on a USP Is One of the Most Important Decisions You Can Make About Your Business.

If you make your business stand apart from the crowd, everything you do will be easier. Customers will be easier to come by and they will happily spread the word about what you do because they love it.

On the other hand, if you don’t develop an effective USP, building an audience or getting any customers to pay attention to you will be a constant struggle. 

How to Find Your Unique Selling Proposition

In order to find your USP, you must be willing to tap into your creativity and passions.

However, all the soul-searching in the world will not help you find your USP if you’re not willing to put your ideal customer first. At the end of the day, your USP is all about your ideal customer, and not about you at all.  

In order to do this correctly, you must be willing to get out of your own way, start thinking about your perfect customer, and learn everything you can about him or her so you can target your approach to meet his or her needs.

Imagine your perfect customer and what would make them eager and excited to do business with you and spend their hard-earned dollars on your products and services.

Speaking of your products…

If you are a grower or processor in any of the western states such as Oregon, amazing products are NOT a USP. States like Oregon, Washington, California, and Colorado have had medical programs and access to seriously strong “high-grade” medicine for over a decade.

In places such as these, having the best product isn’t unique, it’s MANDATORY. Honestly, if you have anything less than the best, your business won’t make it through its first week of operation.

Remember, competition is fierce and you need more than the best product to be unique.

Instead of banking on your amazing product as your ticket to marijuana millions, think of becoming the best at something no one else is attempting.

You want to be able to confidently say, “Hey, at XYZ Company we’re all about X. We do things differently. If you’re into X come see us, we’re the only place where you can get it.”

Remember, You’re Not Trying To Appeal to Everyone

It’s easy to feel like you’ll be leaving out some potential customers when you start to narrowly define your USP. It’s a natural tendency to want to please everyone. Unfortunately in business when you try to please everyone, you generally wind up pleasing no one. When you connect more strongly with a particular audience, your influence can spread more quickly.

Be Unique, But Not For Its Own Sake

Being unique is an important marketing strategy, but beware of being unique for its own sake. Avoid the urge to come up with some catchy and unique just because it seems cool rather than because it’s something that the market truly wants.

Your USP only works when you’re addressing a specific market need. And it requires clarity. If your USP takes someone minutes or hours to understand, it probably won’t be effective.

Once You Have Developed Your USP…

Your job is to communicate it clearly and often.

A great business name, strong tagline, and professional design will bind everything together and put you on the path to marijuana millions.

Come to the Cannabis Business Summit and Expo to hear Alexa speak about branding and marketing in the cannabis industry on June 29 – July 1 in Denver, CO. For more information about the agenda, speakers, and how to register, please visit http://www.cannabisbusinessummit.com.

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Alexa Divett is the Co-Founder and Marketing Director of Maya Media Collective (http://www.mayamc.com), a Portland, Oregon-based marketing and design firm that provides brand identity packages, marketing strategies and business coaching to marijuana business owners and entrepreneurs. Maya Media Collective has been a member of NCIA since January 2014. With over 14 years of experience in marketing, public relations and coaching, Alexa helps cannabusiness owners earn marijuana millions while uplifting the cannabis industry.