Introduction to USP

The unique selling proposition (USP) or unique selling point is a marketing strategy of making a unique proposition to customers that convinced them to switch brands. It was used in successful advertising campaigns of the early 1940s. The term was coined by television advertising pioneer Rosser Reeves of Ted Bates & Company. Theodore Levitt, a professor at Harvard Business School, suggested that, “Differentiation is one of the most important strategic and tactical activities in which companies must constantly engage.” The term has been extended to cover one’s “personal brand”.

A unique selling proposition (USP) refers to the unique benefit exhibited by a company, service, product or brand that enables it to stand out from competitors. The unique selling proposition must be a feature that highlights product benefits that are meaningful to consumers.

As described by Dr. James Blythe, the USP “contains the one feature of the product that most stands out as different from the competition, and is usually a feature that conveys unique benefits to the consumer.” Communicating the USP is a key element of branding.

In Reality in Advertising, Reeves laments that the USP is widely misunderstood. He outlined three basic rules for an advertisement that encapsulated his ideas about the USP:

• Each advertisement must make a proposition to the consumer not just words, product puffery, or show-window advertising. Each advertisement must say to each reader: “Buy this product, for this specific benefit.”
• The proposition must be one the competition cannot or does not offer. It must be unique either in the brand or a claim the rest of that particular advertising area does not make.
• The proposition must be strong enough to move the masses, i.e., attract new customers as well as potential customers.

Importance

In essence, your USP must communicate to your audience that your product has superior value, and that this value is only attainable if they buy from your brand.

A well-developed USP is vital when you’re setting out any marketing strategy. It gives you clarity around the content you want to develop for any online or offline marketing. Its benefits to your marketing strategy include:

A Clear Benefit

When your product or service’s benefit is well-defined by its USP, your target audience learns to appreciate it for that particular aspect e.g 24/7 support or calls returned in 1 hour. Otherwise, your customers will simply gravitate towards others that offer the lowest price, regardless of what other product benefits you may have to offer.

Improved Revenue

A strong product USP improves your marketing as a whole and helps bolster revenue because it gives your market a specific reason to buy. Combined with your product’s intrinsic benefits and a competitive price, your USP will help cement your product’s position in the market, so that your customers will want to keep paying for it.

Loyal Market

When you build a strong and positive product identity via a significant USP, it tells your market where they stand with you. You don’t want your product to be an option amongst other brands, after all. With a powerful USP, you can easily corner the market segment that needs and wants exactly what you’re offering, increasing their loyalty to your brand.

Streamlined Sales Strategy

A generic marketing and sales campaign may be hit-or-miss because it’s harder to highlight your product’s strengths. A good USP streamlines your strategy by allowing you to communicate how you want your market to perceive your product and brand, and focus on its particular benefits.

The USP concept has become one of the eight broad approaches to creative executions in advertising. The USP approach is recommended where high levels of technological innovation characterise a product category. A clear USP helps consumers to understand differences – even non-existent differences between brand offerings in a category, and may also help consumers to form a positive attitude towards a brand and may ultimately contribute to increased levels of brand recall.

In order to determine an appropriate USP for any given brand, marketers must undertake extensive research of the category as well as of consumers. It is important to be able to locate a space in the market, ensure that the feature is something that is unique, and also something that is valued by potential customers.

Sellers also need to try selling a brand to themselves; this is so they know they are passionate about a product and confident it can succeed. The seller needs a key point to use when trying to sell their product or service, and coming up with it prior to selling will benefit.

Having a point of difference to stand out is a major benefit in markets; customers will be drawn to a business if it offers something no one else has. Whether differences are subtle or blatant, they can be the driving force that ensures the end-consumer makes the desired decision in choosing one product over the competition. This is exactly what every business should be looking into whether it is home-delivery service from a store or all-organic food at a restaurant.

In markets which contain many similar products, using a USP is one campaign method of differentiating the product from the competition. Products or services without differentiation risk the consumer seeing them as commodities and fungible, thus lowering price potential. Thus having a unique selling point is essential to have a successful business that can handle current competition, as well as possible future comers in similar markets.