Positioning & USP: Powerful Ways To Name Your Business Right

Are you trying to name your business? If so the most important thing you can do is make sure that your business has a unique selling proposition (or USP) first. Then name your business in a way that highlights the uniqueness of your business.

So what is a unique selling proposition?

"A USP is that distinct and appealing idea that sets you and your business, or practice, favorably apart from every other generic competitor." Jay Abraham

When Fred Smith started Federal Express, the idea of sending packages overnight was unheard of. The whole business was started around one unique selling proposition, "when it absolutely has to be there overnight."

Another spin on the idea of a unique selling proposition is positioning. The term positioning was popularized by Al Ries and Jack Trout in their famous book, Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind.

How is positioning different from a unique selling proposition?

What Al Ries and Jack Trout had to say was that your mind is like a filing cabinet. And when you find out about a company or product you "file it away" in a certain category. An example would be car rental companies. When you file a company or product away, you only save room for the top "positions" in that category.

What this means is that the next time you want to rent a car, you go to your mental filing cabinet and call the first position in that category. When naming your business, you want to be one of the top 3 positions in your product category or service.

So read up on positioning and on how to create a unique selling position. Then name your business. That's how you're able to win "top of mind" recognition for your business, product or service. Happy entrepeneuring (is that a word?)....