How to create a unique selling proposition? Example

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

In the modern market of goods and services, no one will be surprised that you are the best. To compete with other companies, you need to be not just the best, but unique. Only then will it be possible to talk about an increase in the number of customers. A unique selling proposition is what marketers of many firms and companies are racking their brains over. Today we will look at this concept and learn how to create a USP on our own.

Most important

In every business, the USP (or Unique Selling Proposition) is the most important thing. No USP, no sales, no profit, no business. Maybe a little exaggerated, but in general, the way it is.

Unique Selling Proposition (also called offer, USP and USP) is the hallmark of a business. At the same time, it doesn’t matter what exactly a person does, there should be a distinctive characteristic. This term refers to a difference that competitors do not have. The unique offer gives the clientsome benefit and solves the problem. If the USP does not solve the client's problem, then it is just an extravagant name - it is memorable, sounds beautiful, but does not greatly affect the conversion rate.

Unique selling proposition should be based on the two most important words - "benefit" and "different". This offer should be so radically different from the competition that no matter what input the client takes, he will choose exactly the company that has a worthy USP.

USP and Russia

Before starting the main course, I would like to focus on domestic marketing. In Russia, the problem is immediately visible - everyone wants to be the best, but no one wants to be unique in their own way. This is where the main problem comes from - companies refuse to create unique selling propositions. When they try to outdo a competitor who has created a USP, they end up with something between a catchy phrase and a feature of a product or service.

Take, for example, the unique selling proposition found in some copywriters' portfolios:

• Best author.
• Perfect lyrics.
• Master pen and word, etc.

This is not a USP at all, but rather an example of how not to advertise yourself. Everyone has their own concept of an ideal text, the word “best” can be used if it is confirmed by numerical data and actual characteristics, and it seems that there was only one “master of the pen and the word”, Bulgakov. Working USPs look very different:

• Quickcopywriting - any text within 3 hours after payment.
• Free consultation for improvement for each client (please fill in as needed).
• Free images for articles from commercial photo stocks, etc.

Here, behind every offer there is a benefit that the client acquires together with the author. The customer focuses on what he needs in addition to the article: images, consultation or high-quality and fast execution. But from the "best author" it is not known what to expect. In business, everything works exactly the same.

Varieties

For the first time, American advertiser Rosser Reeves spoke about creating a unique selling proposition. He introduced the concept of USP and noted this concept as more effective than advertising odes, where there were no specifics.

He said a strong selling proposition helps:

• Disconnect from competitors.
• Stand out among similar services and products.
• Get the loy alty of the target audience.
• Increase the effectiveness of advertising campaigns by creating effective messages.

It is customary to distinguish between 2 types of trade offers: true and false. The first is based on the actual characteristics of the product, which competitors cannot boast of. A false selling proposition is an invented uniqueness. For example, a customer is told unusual information about a product or presented obvious benefits from a different angle. It's kind of a play on words.

Today to endow the product with some uniquecharacteristics is difficult, so a false USP is being used more and more often.

Quality selling proposition. Main criteria

According to the concept of R. Reeves, the criteria for a quality trade offer are:

• Message about the specific benefit that a person will receive by purchasing the firm's product.
• The offer is different from all available in this market segment.
• The message is compelling and easy for the target audience to remember.

In advertising, the unique selling proposition is the basis, so it must fully meet the needs of customers. Each message should sound benefit, value and benefit, but, in addition, understandable arguments are needed so that the client clearly understands why he should buy the product of interest to him here, and not somewhere else.

Steps

So how do you create a unique selling proposition? If you don’t think too hard, this task seems creative and exciting, and also quite easy. But as practice has shown, USP is an example of exceptionally rational and analytical work. Inventing something intricate and presenting it as a unique offer is like looking for a black cat in a dark room. It is impossible to guess which concept will work.

To get a worthy example of a unique selling proposition, you need to do a lot of research: in addition to the market, niche and competitors, study the product itself - from production technology to watermarkon the package. Development consists of several stages:

1. Break the target audience into subgroups according to certain parameters.
2. Determine the needs of each of these groups.
3. Select positioning attributes, that is, determine what exactly in the promoted product will help solve the problems of the target audience.
4. Describe the benefits of the product. What will the consumer get if he buys it?
5. Based on the received input data, create a USP.

Scenarios

As you can see, this is a rather painstaking process, where it is necessary to use all analytical skills. Only after a complete analysis is completed, you can start looking for a key idea and only after that start creating a sales proposal.

This task can be simplified by using time-tested and experienced scenarios:

1. Emphasis on the unique characteristic.
2. New solution, innovation.
3. Additional services.
4. Turn weaknesses into strengths.
5. Solve the problem

Uniqueness + innovation

Now a little more about scripts. As for the first scenario "Uniqueness", it will only suit those products or services that are truly one of a kind and they have no competitors. In extreme cases, this feature can be created artificially. The option of a unique selling proposition (USP) can be completely unexpected. For example, a company that produces stockings and socks entered the market with an interesting offer - they were selling a set of three socks, and the USP promised to solve the age-old problem.missing sock issue.

As far as innovation is concerned, it is worth declaring a solution to a problem in a new way. For example, “Innovative freshener formula will kill 99% of germs and fill the room with a fresh scent.”

Goodies and disadvantages

The third scenario focuses on additional privileges. If all products on the market are the same and have almost identical characteristics, then you need to pay attention to additional bonuses that will attract visitors. For example, a pet store might invite customers to take kittens or puppies for 2 days to make sure they settle in with the family.

You can also turn the disadvantages of the product to your advantage. If milk is stored for only 3 days, then from a practical point of view it is not profitable, and the buyer is unlikely to pay attention to it. Considering this, it can be reported that it is stored so little due to 100% naturalness. The influx of customers is guaranteed.

Problem Solving

But the easiest option is to solve the problems of potential consumers. This can be done using the formula (yes, like in mathematics):

1. Need of the target audience + Result + Guarantee. In an ad, an example of a unique selling proposition might sound like this: “3000 subscribers in 1 month or we will refund the money.”
2. TA + Problem + Solution. "Helping aspiring copywriters find clients with proven marketing strategies."
3. Unique characteristic + Need. “Exclusive jewelry will emphasize the exclusivitystyle.”
4. Product + Target Audience + Problem + Benefit. “With the Polyglot audio lessons, you can learn any language at a conversational level in a month and leave without a doubt to go to the country of your dreams.”

Unspecified moments

In order for the USP to work, there are a few more nuances you need to pay attention to when creating it. First, the problem that the product solves must be understood by the client and he must want to solve it. Of course, you can offer a spray from "brain sniffers" (isn't it a problem?!), but the buyer will spend much more actively on a regular cream against mosquitoes and ticks.

Secondly, the proposed solution should be better than what the target audience used before. And thirdly, each client must measure, feel and evaluate the result.

A couple more tips

When creating a USP, it is most rational to use Ogilvy's advice. He has worked in advertising for many years and knows exactly how to find a USP. In his book On Advertising, he mentioned the following: great ideas come from the subconscious, so it must be filled with information. To fill the brain to the limit with everything that can relate to the product and turn off for a while. A brilliant idea will come at the most unexpected moment.

Of course, the article has already mentioned analytics, but this advice does not contradict what has already been suggested. It often happens that after conducting hundreds of analytical processes, a marketer cannot find a single and unique link that will promote a product on the market. It is at these moments whenthe brain processes information, you need to move away from reality. As practice shows, very soon a person will see that elusive USP that was on the very surface.

It is also very important to pay attention to those little nuances that competitors miss. At one time, Claude Hopkins noticed that toothpaste not only cleans teeth, but also removes plaque. So the first slogan appeared in the advertising community, that toothpaste removes plaque.

And don't be afraid to take non-standard approaches to solving problems. Marketers of TM "Twix" simply divided the chocolate bar into two sticks and, as they say, away we go.

Defending an idea

Unique Selling Proposition doesn't pop into the minds of marketers out of nowhere. This is the result of long, focused and hard work, which, by the way, competitors can also use.

Several decades ago, intellectual property was inextricably linked with its bearer. That is, if one company introduced a successful USP, the other did not even look in the direction of this advertisement. Today, things have changed somewhat: managers can simply use the idea of competitors for their own purposes.

Therefore, there was a need to create patents. These are documents that confirm the right of the owner to the exclusive use of the results of their activities. Inventions are understood here as products or methods for solving a specific problem. In turn, the "unique selling proposition" itselfis a powerful incentive for innovation. The subject of advertising here is an advantage unnoticed by competitors, but perceived by buyers. Patent protection for unique selling propositions in our country is practically not developed, but in more developed societies, every promotion is protected from plagiarism.

Thus, to be successful, you need to be unique, one of a kind supplier of in-demand products that are in every store, but the best in this particular company.