What is a Unique Selling Proposition?

Business training often recommends that you find a “Unique Selling Proposition” or USP to help give you a competitive edge and also so you can confidently recommend your services when speaking with potential clients or customers. I’ve also heard this referred to as your “Unfair Advantage” and strongly believe in this concept.

While I knew I wanted to start Civil FX several years before I actually did (although I went through several potential names in that process), I ultimately decided to wait, not only so my 3D visualization and marketing skills could gain much needed experience, but mostly because I was just a few years away from having enough experience to be licensed as a civil engineer in my local state. It was a sometimes painful process, but I ultimately waited and in the summer of 2014, I became a licensed engineer.

I’m now able to use this license as a USP while speaking with clients and they seem to appreciate the fact that I took the time to become educated and experienced in engineering so that my 3D visualization could be as accurate and based on actual design data as possible. I know I’m not the only licensed engineer that does 3D visualization nor is Civil FX the only team that can assure accuracy in modeling, but this license has been important for me as I have made the transition from associate engineer to owner of Civil FX. I have other, more minor, USPs such as the fact that my older brother has been making video games for 20 years, but I always fall back on my license as my major USP.

You may or may not have ambitions to start your own 3D animation studio but regardless, finding your USP or unfair advantage is the best way you can differentiate yourself in your career and in 3D visualization. Your own USP may be something like credentials, geography, connections, proprietary software, language, experience, unique background or familiarity with an emerging market like drones or augmented reality.

Whatever your own USP is, find it as quickly as possible and build around it. Use it in job interviews, conversations with clients and with the voice in your own head. There is something you offer to the world that no one else can and finding it can be the difference in your career.

Image credit: Dollar Photo Club