Exactly What You Can Do to Define What Makes Your Brand as Unique as ... M&Ms What's your company's USP? You know what that is, right?

"Melts in your mouth, not in your hand," the slogan for M&M's candy, was trademarked as far back as 1954 and is one of the best-known ever. It's cute. It's memorable. And it's helped make M&M's brand the success it is today -- and not just because the phrase is catchy.

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In fact, the slogan, when introduced, actually helped set the company apart from all other companies slinging sweet treats. It made the brand different and was, and is, its unique selling proposition (USP).

Every company needs a USP in order to stand out from the crowd. But many business owners fail to come up with one that sets their brands apart. If you're an accounting business, for instance, what could be different about you versus your peers?

Defining your brand's uniqueness and USP, then, isn't as simple as stating, "Our product is pink and the rest are blue." It needs to be more meaningful and to originate from that sweet spot between what you do and what your customer needs. So, how do you find it? Here are some ways to do that.

Research your competitors.

No business is completely and utterly unique. You'll always have competitors who'll be doing something similar to what you do. Most of these companies will have a unique selling proposition in order to attract consumers. This isn't a disadvantage for you; it means there's already a market for your business, a fact which can actually help you discover what makes your brand unique.

Take a good look at a number of your biggest competitors. Look at what they're offering, whom they're marketing to, what marketing messages they're using and so on. By comparing what they're offering with what you offer, you can find out what you've got that they don't.

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This strategy might have been how Tattly discovered its uniqueness. Tattly makes temporary tattoos. But instead of being made for children as most other temporary tattoo are, Tattly's product is marketed toward adults, making its brand more unique.

Image credit: Tattly

You can easily discover a hidden edge to your company by looking at what else is out there already. You can't beat "em if you're the same, but you can come out on top if you're doing things differently.

Look closely at your buyer personas.

Next, you'll want to take a close look at your buyer personas. A "buyer persona" is a fictional character created to represent your ideal customer; and you need one. A detailed buyer persona can include basic demographics like age and gender, but it can also include the goals of your ideal customer, his or her motivations, occupation, personality traits, frustrations and more.

Looking at these factors can help you discover something really unique about your brand. For instance, if you're making pizzas, and one of the frustrations listed in your buyer persona is "lack of gourmet ingredients," you may have just found what makes your pizza unique.

If you haven't created a buyer persona for your company yet, get started now. There are tons of free templates online to help you create a detailed buyer persona that will aid you in determining what makes your brand unique.

Pinpoint your differentiators.

In trying to find what makes your brand unique, you should pinpoint everything that makes your company different. So, make a list of those differentiators. This list can be anything big or small about your product/company and anything that's tangible or represents a feeling or belief -- it makes you you. Write that down; just remember to be specific.

If your biggest differentiators are the features of your products, don't choose just a feature as your unique selling proposition. Your audience isn't as impressed or swayed by features as you might think. They're more attracted to how your business or product can change their lives.

So, define that feature as something meaningful to your audience. Successful products usually solve a specific need for consumers and that need is communicated to customers in their own words. For example, when the Apple iPod was introduced, ads didn't talk to customers about the number of gigabytes; they said "10,000 songs in your pocket," which was much more meaningful.

Image credit: Swoop Agency

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Over to you.

Don't just define what makes your brand unique and leave it at that. Use your unique selling proposition in everything you do.Splash it across your marketing, sprinkle it throughout your website and incorporate it into your company culture; you've got to fully live it. Once you've defined what makes your company unique, you won't just have a few casual customers, you'll form better connections with them; and consumers will flock to your brand to become loyal customers.