What Is Your USP?
February 20, 2008
USP or Unique Selling Proposition is a term that was coined in the 1940s by Advertising Mogul Ted Bates of Bates and Reeves, one of the largest advertising agencies of its time, to explain the success of several advertising campaigns. They defined USP as a statement that contained these three elements:
- Each advertisement/statement must make a proposition to the consumer.
- The proposition must be one that the competition either cannot, or does not offer. It must be unique–either a uniqueness of the brand or a claim not otherwise made in that particular field of advertising.
- The proposition must be so strong that it can move the mass millions.
USP has since been adopted by copywriting, branding, and marketing professionals to expand beyond an advertising claim to encompass a slogan or theme for a company. Every company, brand, product, or service has something unique they can stake a claim to.
Here are some of the original superstars of USP
Domino’s Pizza: “You get fresh, hot pizza delivered to your door in 30 minutes or less — or it’s free.”
FedEx: “Your package absolutely, positively has to get there overnight”M&M’s: “The milk chocolate melts in your mouth, not in your hand”
What makes your company, product or service unique? What is your competitive advantage? Here are a few questions to ask yourself:
· What differentiates your product or service? Amazon.com claims to be the “World’s Biggest Bookstore.”
· Fill in the rest of this sentence – Unlike most of my competitors I _________________________.
· What are the benefits of using your product or service? Now which of those benefits are unique to your product or service?
· What weaknesses can you take advantage of? Avis uses the USP “We’re Number 2. We try harder.”
Spend some time brainstorming a USP if you don’t have one already. It will help you build and strengthen your brand, it will help potential customers remember you when they need your product or service and like the compelling USPs of old, a strong USP will sell your product or service.
Last 5 posts by mila
- How, and Why, to Avoid Sexist Language in Your Writing - March 4th, 2008
- Creative Writing Tips You Can Use In Your Copy - February 28th, 2008
- 5 Tips To Beat Writer’s Block - February 24th, 2008
- Is Your Call To Action Working? - February 16th, 2008
- How To Change Your Sales Copy From Rational To Emotional - February 12th, 2008
You come up with some of the neatest things, Mila. I never knew there was a such thing as a USP, and definitely didn’t know what it meant! Thanks for the lesson. :) I’ll have to give that some thought.