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How Animators Can Develop a Unique Selling Proposition in 6 Easy Steps

ben marvazi 2020

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With so many skilled and experienced designers, artists, and animators using great animation software in the world today, there’s more competition than ever. That’s why you will need a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) as an animator.

A unique selling proposition helps you define your unique place in the animation industry. It’s what you show and tell clients that will make you look different from other animators and give them a reason to hire you. 

It also plays an important role in your pricing power and knowing which group of customers to target.

Many professional individuals and even businesses make the mistake of offering too much when they start their business. They want to be good at everything and offer everything to everyone.

They want to offer an affordable price with high-quality product or service. If you follow this way of approaching your clients, you will end up not becoming known for anything.

No matter how good you think you are at animation, if you don’t market yourself properly using a selling proposition that shows off your unique talent, your potential clients won’t see the reason why they should consider hiring you over any other animator.

In this blog post, we share with you the easy ways that you can develop your unique selling proposition as an animator.

1) Determine Your Target Audience

man saying hi from the corn fields

GIF by Netflix via GIPHY

You may be a good animator in general, but there will always be a specific kind of video for a certain industry that you are the best at making. 

It is more likely that you will gain more animation clients if you focus on a particular kind of animation style for a specific industry.

If you made 2D animation videos for many food and beverage companies before and these companies liked your work, then reach out to more food and beverage companies.

If they don’t know you yet, ask if they’re hiring an animator to make 2D animation videos for them. Also, let them know the names of the food and beverage companies you’ve worked for before. 

This puts you in a unique position to be a 2D animator who creates animation videos for the niche of food and beverage companies.

Once you narrow down the kinds of companies that will most likely be interested in your work, make a unique selling proposition based on what your animators are looking for from an animator and what you believe you can give them.

Make sure that the difference between you and other animators out there is crystal clear. This will not only help you find better clients but it will also help you avoid trying to please everyone.

2) Talk About Your Strengths

woman saying that she is the best

GIF by ABC Network via GIPHY

When talking about your strengths in your unique selling proposition, make sure that they are something that you can offer the best of to your animation clients that other competitors cannot.

For example, if an animator takes a certain amount of time to create an animated video while you can create the same animated video in half the time, you can make speed in animation your unique selling proposition.

A way to help you come up with your strength is to analyze your competitors. Check other animators’ portfolios, websites, showreels, and social media accounts and see how they communicate their strengths.

You can also ask some of your colleagues and ask them what strength they show their clients when they promote themselves.

If you’re still not sure what your strength is, you can talk to your previous or current animation clients and ask them the following questions:

  • Why did you choose my animation services over others?
  • How was I able to solve your problem or meet your needs?
  • What did you like about working with me?
  • What do you think I offer that other animators don’t offer?

3) Show How You Can Meet Your Client’s Needs

a little boy offering his help

GIF by VH1 via GIPHY

What problem do your clients have that only you can meet?

If your clients need a 2D or 3D animator who creates whiteboard animation, cartoon animation, stop motion animation, screencast, etc. then tell them that you can give them that through your animation services.

Make sure that when you approach your animation clients, make it clear to them that you know what they need and that you have what it takes to help them solve their business problem or meet their needs.

4) Define Your Pricing

three round gold-colored coins on 100 US dollar banknotes

GIF by Dmitri Demidko via GIPHY

Aside from mentioning your strengths, one way for you to differentiate yourself from other animators is to offer your animation services at a price that isn’t usually offered by other animators. 

If you are an experienced animator with videos that come at great quality, you have the choice to price your services higher than others.

This gives your potential customers a message that you are an expert who is better than most of the animators in your industry in terms of animation skills and customer services.

You can also offer your animation services at a discounted price.

Offering the same animation service at a lower price is what many businesses and professionals do to attract clients.

Take note that you should not price your animation services too low or else you won’t be able to make a living out of your animation carer. Try to find a reasonable price that you can charge your clients for the quality of your work.

Don’t worry if your price isn’t as high as you want it to be. Later on, you’ll be able to make up for your low price when you gain more animation clients.

5) Show Your Personality Through Your Work

an old woman saying she is herself al the time

GIF by Netflix via GIPHY

Clients will never hire someone they don’t think they will enjoy working with. As a freelance animator, you get to decide how you want to show your work and communicate with your clients.

You have the freedom to show your animation experience, skills, and your own personality in your work. For example, if you like cracking jokes and making people laugh, you can add a bit of humor to your animated videos. This will make you stand out from the crowd and render your work more difficult for others to copy or top.

6) Simplify Your Unique Selling Proposition

a man saying that making a unique selling proposition is easy

GIF by Tribe Workshop via GIPHY

Once you’ve defined your target audience, your strength, the problems of your customers that you can solve, how much to charge, and the kind of personality that you want to show, combine your ideas into a sentence or two.

You will want to make your final unique selling proposition short, specific, and easy to remember for your clients so that they can have a good understanding of who you are and what you can do for them.

If you’re not sure how to put your unique selling proposition into a statement, here are some templates you can use:

  • [Your name] offers [product/service] for [specific target market] to [value proposition]. Unlike [other animators], I [key differentiator].
  • For [your specific target market] who [your target market’s problem or need], [your name] is [who you are] that [what you provide that other animators don’t]. Unlike [other animators], [your name] is [what only you can provide that other animators don’t].

In Closing

Remember that your unique selling proposition should not just differentiate you from other animators but also convince clients to choose you as the animator for their animation project.

Find the perfect balance between what you think your clients need from an animator and the strengths you have.

Test your unique selling proposition in the target audience you chose. If it does not bring in new clients, try coming up with a different unique selling proposition.

It may take you time to think about your unique selling proposition and create it, but it will definitely help you differentiate yourself from other animators and know which specific audience to target when promoting yourself as a freelance animator.

Do you already have your own unique selling proposition? If not, take the time to create one today and see how it will benefit you in the long run.

For more tips about the business of animation, join our free masterclass, and get a copy of our free marketing handbook.

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