This week, we were on the road again in Tasmania. It’s chilly and many attractions are closed for the winter; still there are lots of opportunities to observe business. Today I want to share one of my observations with you.

Driving through a little village, I noticed a sign on the chemist’s building, it read: “Caring Staff …”. I shook my head as I thought to myself, “Yes, of course. Isn’t that a given?” That’s like an accountant advertising, “We’re good with numbers”, well I should think so.

Advertising and marketing is about helping your potential customers to understand what is unique about you. What makes you stand out from your competition? This is called your USP or Unique Selling Proposition.

One of the best examples I heard was an accountant who was into personal development and used her knowledge of personal development to motivate and empower her clients, not only about their numbers but about who they were as business owners. She was able to differentiate herself and attract the clients who wanted that.

Remember, when attracting clients, we want to attract the ones we want to work with; that means making it easy for people to disqualify themselves as well.

If you’re going to use a byline, it has to mean something and contribute to your bottom line. It has to evoke something in your potential customer to have them choose you.

Another example was a real estate agency in Launceston. The advertising stated, “We sell a house every 2.3 days”. If selling your house quickly is important to you, that might be enough to have you make enquiries or another agency may say, “We sell more than the others”, which may give you confidence they know what they are doing.

My tagline is “Reclaim Your Freedom”.  I want to attract the people who believe it’s possible to have a business and career and lifestyle. My ideal clients are those who don’t currently feel like they have freedom. There isn’t a right or wrong when it comes to your advertising and marketing IF it hits the mark for whom you want to attract.

There is a right and wrong if you use words to describe what we would expect would be a given as part of your service or product.

How about you and your business? What’s your USP? Who do you want to attract? Are you using the right words?