Definition: The Unique Selling Proposition (also Unique Feature) is a marketing concept which was first proposed as a theory to explain a pattern among successful advertising campaigns of the early 1940s. It states that such campaigns made unique propositions to the customer and that this convinced these phones switch brands.
The term was invented by Rosser Reeves of Ted Bates & Company. Today the term is used in other fields or simply casually to refer to any aspect of an item that differentiates it from similar objects.
Today, a number of businesses and corporations currently use USPs as a grounds for their marketing campaigns.
Why must I use your company?
It is something that is prone to cause you to choke when you hear it, but most clients I ask greet me with the same reply:
“We possess the best service” or “We’re really friendly”.
Unfortunately, almost every other business in that industry could possibly the same task, in addition to the competitors who are doing it right. This is the most significant question you can now ever inquire about your business.
Actually, it’s “THE” question your customers are asking Each day.
See, if you aren’t different inside a great way, you become lost in most from the noise, all that marketing clutter. The yellow pages is a good example of this, all those adverts screaming for attention, the only problem being that everybody else has the same idea. You need to take away the confusion which is your responsibility to invoke some clarity.
Although this series is going to be focused on the secrets of how local company may use the internet, secrets I even use myself for offline clients, I’ll also transpose fundamental business principles to become constantly considered for you to apply within your internet marketing.
After i meet with a brand new client, it isn’t unusual that i can spend a fair area of the time on this question, because I know how important it’s.
You need to simply answer, “why you”? Sounds easy, right?
Normally, this is something you will have to spend time on, however it will be worth it simply because it is so profitable. When you find your USP, anything else becomes easier and with this in mind, it is amazing to me after i discover just how few businesses also have a “real” USP in their marketing.
As said before, your USP is not an opinion. It’s not a bias based up what you think you USP “should” be.
A superb example of a great USP is Dominoes Pizza. “We will deliver your pizza for you within 30 minutes or the pizza is on us”.
WOW!
Now that is something individuals will remember in regards to you and probably got people referring to the organization.
Who do after this you think people considered when they did require a pizza..?
People were ordering pizzas left right and centre simply to see if they really delivered promptly! It was a massive success and do you know what? It took that small pizza company to the massive franchise that it’s today, simply because of the USP getting used properly. Yup, it made that business.
Now having a USP isn’t enough alone, it must be “used” in your marketing, otherwise how does anyone ever understand what your USP is?
Your USP can be one of the only most powerful facets of your business if you’re able to use it correctly.
If you have a USP then great, otherwise then look for one! It is ok if it takes time or you struggle slightly because it is so important you have one.
You now need to make sure that it’s in every single aspect of your marketing and even though main focus of this series is teaching local company the power of internet marketing and how to utilise it, it is important to realize that your web marketing “is” part or perhaps your “marketing”.
They are not separate entities and should ‘t be treated as such.
I mention this here now because you guessed it, your USP must be applied to your online marketing too – Your site, inside your emails, newsletters, press releases, everything.
Your employees must know it too – so make certain they are doing, especially people who cope with customers face to face or handle the phones.
There are different ways of finding your USP, but often business people find it difficult to identify their own. This is usually a result of having been an employee in the business for so long, they’re “too close to the tree to determine the forest”. It’s understandable and often you just need to have a step back to see from a new perspective, from the customer’s perspective if possible. Exactly what do they see, in other words – give me an idea them to see? This should ‘t be a chore, but a chance.
Let us take a glance again in the Yellow Pages to see an actual example of “differentiate or die”. Adverts everywhere and very little room to distinguish yourself. If a person of my clients was paying good money to have an advert, I would want to make sure that people were looking at their ad space instead of anybody else’s. Why should they though?
Open up your directory and have a look at the 2 open pages for just about any given category and what do you see? Most if not completely from the adverts convey the SAME MESSAGE! The scary part is that most businesses do not know they’re doing it so wrong. Usually this includes the next:
Company name
Address
Telephone number
Some of the company features for example long established, family run, friendly service (not benefits).
Company history or a random excerpt “about them” or “their business”.
The main reason people place ads will be seen but, if every advert inside a directory looks exactly the same, you are seriously wasting capital that could have been used elsewhere. Then when individuals don’t obtain the phone calls they expected, they say marketing doesn’t work.
Marketing works – it just must be implemented correctly. Should you haven’t derived a USP out of your business, something which defines you, then you definitely haven’t prepared your marketing for achievement – “fail to prepare, prepare to fail”. That which was your marketing being put on previously?
Don’t be concerned if this describes you, be optimistic and don’t forget that you could begin the process of implementing correct strategies which will bring you more business.
So if you do not have a USP to use your marketing to ( any type of marketing), then you’re wasting time, money and resources. The same goes for any Yellow Page ad.
If I’m a customer who requires a plumber and I have water throughout my kitchen floor, pipes leaking, water gushing everywhere – do you really think the first thing I check for is to find out if it is a family run company?
I’m a customer. I worry about “me”. So, WIIFM? “What’s in it for me”? What are the benefits your business will give to a customer?
Is it price? Are you there within Half an hour of any emergency call? Do new customers get a 10% discount on everything?
Why should I personally use your company?
Which was straight to the point, however it needed to be. This is where so many businesses leave cash on the table, by assuming customers worry about stuff that don’t affect them.
Let’s try to quantify the questions that are your priority to reply to:
1. What benefits will a customer receive by using your company.
2. In what ways are you diverse from every other competitor in your town?
The benefits are what your visitors worry about, not the characteristics and this concept has been used through the best marketers on the planet for a long time, very successfully.
Attempt to describe what your services or product is going to do and how it’ll specifically help anyone who uses them. The brain is an extremely powerful tool, so that as you know the “story”, people “visualise” the result this can provide their life. Even if it is only fixing their leaky pipes, you’re helping them return to normal.
Whenever you visualise the customers perspective, it puts the relevance of the business into context. It provides a reason almost why it is operational to begin with. The main objective ought to be the customers goal and when that goal is to have the leak in my kitchen fixed as soon as possible and preferably as low cost as you possibly can. Do you really think the fact a business has been established 50 years for instance, would actually be considered a priority on their behalf?
Let me know this, why have you create your business? Maybe it was simply to just make money or maybe it was to resolve an issue for the customers? The latter is all They are concerned about.
If you’re able to fix their problem efficiently they will love you for it, that is the customers definitive goal.
The “feature” of the business being 50 years old does not matter even if your competitor is only 6 years old – they sold their usp to be cheaper and quicker. Sell your benefits, I cannot stress this enough.
Features are not necessarily wrong, sometimes they can help with association and they’ve other uses too. However, should you ensure your benefits are highlighted along side your physical features…. you could very soon be being bold in the clutter which, can be very good indeed for the business. If you have only a second to seize someone’s attention, remember it is the benefits that turn eyes into customers – the features can help you keep that customer for any very long time.
I understand the main objective with this series is to educate local business owners about the power from the internet and what it really can do on their behalf. However, it is important for me to outline a few of the core principles that should be put on your marketing, as they will end up the basic principles of the infrastructure online.
I could teach you everything you need to know about internet marketing, but when you are not applying the core aspects of your business properly for this kind of marketing, then there would be considered a large amount of unnecessary waste.
Within the next portion of this multiple part series I will demonstrate the best way to apply those core marketing principles through the various online media streams that will permit you to implement a competent web marketing strategy.
Before we continue, below are great tips how you’ll find your USP:
1. Try to quantify the characteristics and benefits of your organization, what differentiates yourself from the competition in your local market? The length of the issue you solve? The worthiness you provide? Could it be the speed of the service and so on..?
2. Try to look for the benefit most appreciated by your target market. Which may be at the top their agenda once they needed something or product for example what your provide? You can even survey your visitors to gather market research data to assist your final decision of what is most important for them.
3. Now try to match answers from list one and list 2. If you discover you have a significant strength that the data suggests customers want, it could actually be a good USP to choose. This is not a must, you might have created the product that created an industry, it’s just a great starting point and a good method if you are struggling. Remember – search hard to differentiate yourself.