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Stop Mixing Up USP, UVP & Positioning (To Improve Your Brand Clarity)

Think you’re different? You’re not. At least not in the way you think. Every coach, consultant, and service provider swears they “go the extra mile,” “care more,” or have “years of experience.” Great… but none of that makes you unforgettable. In this shorty episode, Deirdre Martin, Neurostrategist and business coach tears apart the myths about your USP, UVP, and Positioning and shows how they actually work in your buyer’s brain. You’ll learn how to stop sounding like everyone else, anchor your brand in neuroscience-backed clarity, and finally own the message that sells without shouting. Hit play it’s time to prove you’re different because you’ve built it that way.

For the full list of timestamps, key takeaways, and all resources mentioned, visit the full episode page here: https://deirdremartin.ie/blog/difference-between-usp-uvp-positioning

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You think you're different?

You're probably not, at least not in the way you think you are.

I talk to entrepreneurs every day who swear their business stands out because

they care more or they've been around longer, or they go the extra mile.

But caring isn't a differentiator.

Years of experience isn't a differentiator and going the extra mile, well, that's

actually just a ticket to play the game now, especially since the pandemic.

People expect that you go the extra mile.

So today I'm calling that out because what most business owners think makes

them different is actually what's keeping them indistinguishable,

copyable and forgettable.

And the reason this is happening is not what you think.

It's not because you don't care, it's because you're so close to your business.

You can't see.

You've tangled up three critical elements of your brand strategy,

your U-S-P, U-V-P, and positioning.

Now, by the end of this episode, you'll know what those terms mean, exactly,

how to separate them, strengthen them, and stitch them back together into

something people remember and want to buy.

I'm Deirdre Martin neuro strategist and business coach helping

coaches, consultants, and service providers scale to their first

million without burning out.

I blend psychology and neuroscience with strategy to help entrepreneurs

build brands that actually stick in people's minds, because

that's what branding really is.

It's not what you say, it's what other people's hearts, minds,

and guts remember about you.

And before we dive in, you can download my brand strategy

checklist at www.DeirdreMartin.ie slash brand strategy checklist.

It's the same tool I use with clients to audit where their brand clarity

is maybe slipping a little bit.

So go and grab it when we're done.

But for now, let's get your strategy on solid ground.

Let's really set that foundation for you.

Let's start with the one that causes the absolute most confusion, your

USP, your unique selling proposition.

When I ask business owners what makes you unique, I hear the

same answers again and again.

We go above and beyond.

We care deeply about our clients.

We've been in business for insert X number of years, but here's the reality.

Those are bare minimums.

They're not differentiators.

And if someone else could say the exact same thing, if they could claim that

same thing, that doesn't make it unique.

Your USP is not what makes you good.

It's what makes you the only logical choice right now for your customer

who has a need, desire, or a problem that they want to get resolved.

Think of Domino's back in the day, hot pizza delivered

in 30 minutes, or it's free.

That's specific, measurable, and it reverse as any risk.

So much so that people are hoping their pizza will take longer than 30 minutes

to arrive, so they get it free, right?

That's a USP or M&Ms, the classic line, it melts in your mouth, not in your hand.

Oh gosh.

I love my some peanut M&Ms, but that one liner, it's a physical proof point of

difference that no one else could claim.

When clients tell me our USP is customer service, I ask them, can you measure that?

Can you prove it?

Can you guarantee it?

And can you be 100% certain?

No one else in your industry has customer service as good as you.

And if the answer to any of those is no, then it's not a USP.

Your USP is your neural anchor.

It's the sensory hook that sticks in your buyer's memory.

And neuroscience tells us the brain retains what's concrete,

verifiable, and emotionally charged.

So a real USP does exactly that.

It gives the brain something to hold onto and remember,

you by, so that's your proof.

Now we build the promise around it.

Your unique value proposition, your UVP.

This one's my favorite because it's where your brand starts to feel alive.

Your UVP isn't a bullet point list of features that you show up on your website.

It's the transformation your clients experience because of

you, because of working with you.

It's the so what, the bigger benefit your buyers get.

So if you list a feature, you ask, so what as in you get a 90 minute zoom call.

So what, who cares about a 90 minute zoom call?

What does the zoom call give them?

It's the thing that the buyer gets, the outcome that they care

about, the reason that they want to work with you in the first place.

For example, my client Claire, she's a leadership coach.

She works with high achieving pharma executives, her UVP.

She helps them experience relief from burnout in under one week.

That's not a feature.

That's a result.

It's a felt difference that her clients experience.

Then another client, Annie, she coaches executive assistants, her UVP.

She helps them step into their badassery and become strategic

partners to their executives.

It's a transformation of identity.

These people go from being just an assistant to an indispensable partner.

That's what a strong UVP does.

It paints a picture of the after it moves your offer out of logic and into

emotion where buying decisions actually happen because neuroscience confirms it.

People buy based on emotion first, and then later they go home and they

justify that purchase with logic.

Your UVP isn't supposed to attract everyone.

It's supposed to make your perfect fit.

Paying clients feel seen, heard, and understood, and your wrong fit,

clients just quietly saunter away.

But if your UVP could live comfortably on a competitor's website, it's

not unique and it's absolutely not valuable, at least not for you.

So your task here is to bundle these three elements together

for your UVP, the result.

The experience and the risk you remove.

That's your UVP in one tight sentence.

And if you wanna hand shaping that story, go and listen to episode

135 - six stories every business owner needs to attract more clients.

That episode walks you through how to use storytelling to make your UVP stick

emotionally and not just intellectually.

Alright, proof and promise are in place now.

We land the piece that holds 'em together.

You're positioning.

So positioning is not what you say you are.

It's what your audience in the market remembers you as.

It's the mental space you own in your audience's head and the

category that you lead by design.

When you own your positioning, everything just clicks into place.

Your pricing, your pipeline, and even your peace of mind.

Now let me show you what this looks like when it's nailed.

A client of mine, Patty.

Patty owns Ireland's largest, most trusted construction estimating company.

That's clear positioning.

There's no confusion and no competition.

Or another past client, Shane, who is a psychotherapist, he's known

globally as the anxiety expert.

One phrase that gives total and utter clarity.

Or another client, Nicola owns an aesthetic clinic.

She is a supplier of Derma Pen and a trainer of aesthetics.

She owns the category of Ireland's only derma pen supplier, and she has a

Dermal Science Institute for training.

It's super clear and everyone knows what she stands for.

So positioning is the story.

Your brand is remembered for your USP is the proof that the story is real.

And your UVP is the emotional payoff.

Why the story matters to your buyer.

That tells everyone else this is what you'll get when you work with me.

When all three line up, that's the neuroscience of

perception working for you.

You become cognitively easy to recall and in branding, business and life,

the easiest to recall is going to be a business that succeeds because like

customer experience, OG in Golden said in episode 100, forgettable

is the worst thing to be a bad experience or an amazing experience.

Great, but a forgettable experience, that's the worst possible

thing that you want to happen.

So if you're exhausted by trying to be everywhere, by trying to say everything,

and please everyone, this might be why you've been trying to write too many

different types of stories around your USP or UVP and around your positioning.

So pick one, own it, and the rest of your strategy will get 10 times easier.

All right, let's wrap this up.

Your USP is your proof.

Your UVP is your promise and your positioning is the perception that you

own in the minds of your ideal clients.

So stop saying you're different because you care more.

Start proving you're different because you've built it that way.

One action you can take today is to write your 60 second homepage hook that

says, this is the space that I own.

This is the transformation I deliver, and this is the proof I can back it up with.

So read it aloud, send it to me if you want, send it to me via DM on

LinkedIn or Instagram, and if it doesn't make you stand taller, it

won't make your clients lean in.

When you send it to me, I'll give you some feedback.

So don't forget to download your brand strategy checklist at www.DeirdreMartin.ie

slash brand strategy checklist.

It'll help you see exactly which parts of your brand strategy need tightening,

the proof, the promise, or the position.

And if this episode gave you a little spark, share it with one

entrepreneur who's doing great work but struggling to explain why.

It's great.

You'll help them and you'll help.

More people stop competing on BS and start competing on clarity.

And do me a solid, please rate, review and subscribe and all that good stuff.

It helps the show Reach more brilliant minds like yours and until next

time, keep mastering your business.