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marketing Marketing is the act of acquiring, satisfying and retaining customers. It is one of the primary components of Business administration, business management and commerce. Marketing is usually conducted by the seller, typically a retailer or ma ...
, the unique selling proposition (USP), also called the unique selling point or the unique value proposition (UVP) in the business model canvas, is the
marketing strategy Marketing strategy refers to efforts undertaken by an Organizational structure, organization to increase its sales and achieve competitive advantage. In other words, it is the method of advertising a company's products to the public through an est ...
of informing
customer In sales, commerce, and economics, a customer (sometimes known as a Client (business), client, buyer, or purchaser) is the recipient of a Good (economics), good, service (economics), service, product (business), product, or an Intellectual prop ...
s about how one's own
brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's goods or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and ...
or product is superior to its
competitor Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, individ ...
s (in addition to its other
values In ethics and social sciences, value denotes the degree of importance of some thing or action, with the aim of determining which actions are best to do or what way is best to live ( normative ethics), or to describe the significance of different a ...
). This strategy was used in successful
advertising campaign An advertising campaign or marketing campaign is a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme which make up an integrated marketing communication (IMC). An IMC is a platform in which a group of people can group their ide ...
s of the early 1940s. The term was coined by
Rosser Reeves Rosser Reeves (10 September 1910 – 24 January 1984) was an American people, American advertising executive and pioneer of television advertising; Reeves generated millions for his clients. The Ted Bates (executive), Ted Bates agency, where he ...
, a
television advertising A television advertisement (also called a commercial, spot, break, advert, or ad) is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization. It conveys a message promoting, and aiming to market, a product, service or idea. ...
pioneer of Ted Bates & Company.
Theodore Levitt Theodore Levitt (March 1, 1925 – June 28, 2006) was a German-born American economist and a professor at the Harvard Business School. He was editor of the '' Harvard Business Review'', noted for increasing the Review's circulation and popularizi ...
, a professor at
Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...
, 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".


Definition

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. USP focuses on explicit claims of uniqueness involving an objectively verifiable product attribute or benefit-in-use. In summary: #Each advertisement must make a proposition to the consumer—not just words, product
puffery Puffery is undue or exaggerated praise. Puffery serves to "puff up" what is being described. In law, puffery is usually invoked as a defense argument: it identifies general praising speech, typically produced by a seller, which is not expected ...
, 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 maintain current customers.


Importance

The USP concept is one of the eight broad approaches to creative executions in
advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a Product (business), product or Service (economics), service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of int ...
.Laskey, H. A., Day, E. and Crask, M.R., "Typology of Main Message Strategies," ''Journal of Advertising,'' vol. 18, no. 1, 1989, pp 36–41. The USP approach can be effective where high levels of
technological innovation Technological innovation is an extended concept of innovation. While innovation is a rather well-defined concept, it has a broad meaning to many people, and especially numerous understanding in the academic and business world. Innovation refers to ...
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 Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for ...
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. 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 In economics and law, fungibility is the property of something whose individual units are considered fundamentally interchangeable with each other. For example, the fungibility of money means that a $100 bill (note) is considered entirely equ ...
, 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. The desktop personal-computer market provides one example with many manufacturers and the potential for new manufacturers at any time. Apple used the slogan "Beauty outside, Beast inside" for its
Mac Pro Mac Pro is a series of workstations and servers for professionals made by Apple Inc. since 2006. The Mac Pro, by some performance benchmarks, is the most powerful computer that Apple offers. It is one of four desktop computers in the current ...
campaign to differentiate its product as "beautiful" compared with any other desktop computer. Buyers of this product were willing to pay a premium price, compared with technically similar desktop computers. Apple differentiates itself with a focus on aesthetics and cutting-edge technologies. On the other hand,
Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...
differentiates itself through its campaign “save money, live better" by having a focus on being the cheapest department store and reminding customers that it's not how much one spends on a product that matters. This USP rests on strong, direct and concise messaging that gives consumers a clear picture of exactly what value they will receive for choosing a given brand or product.Entrepreneur. (No Date). ''Unique Selling Proposition (USP)''. Retrieved March 29th, 2016, from Entrepreneur: http://www.entrepreneur.com/encyclopedia/unique-selling-proposition-usp
Marketing strategies Marketing strategy refers to efforts undertaken by an organization to increase its sales and achieve competitive advantage. In other words, it is the method of advertising a company's products to the public through an established plan through the ...
are very important for different companies to establish their identity and increase
market share Market share is the percentage of the total revenue or sales in a Market (economics), market that a company's business makes up. For example, if there are 50,000 units sold per year in a given industry, a company whose sales were 5,000 of those ...
. A good USP should target a specific audience. Furthermore, a USP should not only be unique, but also keep its promises in order to prove trustworthy.


Examples

The following are examples of unique selling propositions. What is commonly considered a
slogan A slogan is a memorable motto or phrase used in a clan or a political, commercial, religious, or other context as a repetitive expression of an idea or purpose, with the goal of persuading members of the public or a more defined target group ...
is enhanced with a differentiating benefit of the product or service. Typically, the uniqueness is delivered by a unique process, ingredient, or system that produces the benefit described. *
Anacin Anacin is an American brand of analgesic that is manufactured by Prestige Consumer Healthcare. Anacin's active ingredients are aspirin and caffeine. History Anacin was invented by William Milton Knight and was first to be used as stated in the ...
"Fast, incredibly fast relief." In 1952, Rosser Reeves created a TV commercial that capitalized on Anacin's "special ingredient",
caffeine Caffeine is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant of the methylxanthine chemical classification, class and is the most commonly consumed Psychoactive drug, psychoactive substance globally. It is mainly used for its eugeroic (wakefulness pr ...
, by suggesting limitations of other aspirin and repeating, three times, the differentiation proposition: ''fast''. *
M&M's M&M's are color-varied sugar-coated dragée chocolate confectionery by the Mars Wrigley Confectionery division of Mars Inc.. The candy consists of a candy shell surrounding a filling which determines the specific type of M&M's. Each piece has ...
: "Melts in your mouth, not in your hand." M&Ms use a patented hard sugar coating that keeps chocolate from melting in one's hands. *
Head & Shoulders Head & Shoulders (H&S) is an American brand of anti- dandruff and non-dandruff shampoo produced by parent company Procter & Gamble. The active anti-fungal ingredient in Head & Shoulders is piroctone olamine or zinc pyrithione, with some "cl ...
: "Clinically proven to reduce dandruff." Pyrithione Zinc was found, after 10 years of research, to be an ingredient that was actually effective in eliminating dandruff where other products were not effective. Adding the name "Shoulders" to the product name also indicated that the product eliminated the tell-tale white marks on clothing caused by dandruff flakes falling from the hair. *
Domino's Pizza Domino's Pizza, Inc., commonly referred to as Domino's, is an American multinational pizza restaurant chain founded in 1960 and led by CEO Russell Weiner. The corporation is Delaware General Corporation Law, Delaware-domiciled and headquartered ...
: "You get fresh, hot pizza delivered to your door in 30 minutes or less—or it's free." 1973-1993 "You Got 30 Minutes" 2007- Domino's uses what it calls the "make line" and other systems to make pizzas quickly. *
FedEx FedEx Corporation, originally known as Federal Express Corporation, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate holding company specializing in Package delivery, transportation, e-commerce, and ...
: "When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight." 1978–1983. FedEx was the first company to specialize in overnight air freight and first to implement package tracking. This pioneering advantage was made possible by a new system outlined in the founder's 1965
Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...
paper. *
Metropolitan Life MetLife, Inc. is the holding corporation for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MLIC), better known as MetLife, and its affiliates. MetLife is among the largest global providers of insurance, annuities, and employee benefit programs, w ...
: "Get Met. It Pays." Met "Whole Life Policy" introduced in 1984 was a sales success for the company. The policy offered one-third more coverage, for the same price, and grew in cash value for a bigger "pay out" over time. In advertisements, Met compared buying the policy to buying a home. *
Southwest Airlines Southwest Airlines Co., or simply Southwest, is a Major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States that formerly operated on a low-cost carrier model. It is headquartered in the Love Field, Dallas, Love Field neighborhood ...
: "We are THE low-fare airline."


See also

*
Advertising management Advertising management is how a company carefully plans and controls its advertising to reach its ideal customers and convince them to buy. Marketers use different types of advertising. Brand advertising is defined as a non-personal communic ...
*
Advertising campaign An advertising campaign or marketing campaign is a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme which make up an integrated marketing communication (IMC). An IMC is a platform in which a group of people can group their ide ...
*
Integrated marketing communications Marketing communications (MC, marcom(s), marcomm(s) or just simply communications) refers to the use of different marketing channels and tools in combination.Tomse, & Snoj, 2014 Marketing communication channels focus on how businesses communicate ...
*
Killer app A killer application (often shortened to killer app) is any software that is so necessary or desirable that it proves the core value of some larger technology, such as its host computer hardware, video game console, software platform, or operati ...
*
Marketing communications Marketing communications (MC, marcom(s), marcomm(s) or just simply communications) refers to the use of different marketing channels and tools in combination.Tomse, & Snoj, 2014 Marketing communication channels focus on how businesses communicate ...
*
Promotion (marketing) In marketing, promotion refers to any type of marketing communications, marketing communication used to inform target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or issue, persuasively. It helps marketers to create a distinctive p ...
*
Promotional mix In marketing, the promotional mix describes a blend of promotional variables chosen by marketers to help a firm reach its goals.Contemporary Marketing 2011 (textbook), Louis Boone, David Kurtz, Cengage Learning, Jan 1, 2010Elements of the promotio ...
* Point of difference: POD *
Competitive advantage In business, a competitive advantage is an attribute that allows an organization to outperform its competitors. A competitive advantage may include access to natural resources, such as high-grade ores or a low-cost power source, highly skille ...


References

{{Reflist Advertising techniques Marketing techniques Promotion and marketing communications Uniqueness