The USP (Unique Selling Proposition) first appeared in Rosser Reeves' classic book Reality in Advertising, published in 1961. Because the book has been out of print for some time, few people now working in sales have had the chance to read the original description of USPs and how to create a strong one.
Reeves stated that there are three primary requirements for crafting a good USP:
It contains a benefit. A strong USP will have a benefit phrase built right into it. Your USP should make it
completely clear to prospects exactly what they will get in return for buying the product.
It must be unique. Not necessarily unique in the entire universe of products for sale on Earth, but at the very least your USP should be unique for your industry. The chief benefit of possessing a USP is that it sets you apart from the competition, so if your USP's benefit is the same one that a competitor offers, you're wasting your time.
It must matter to prospects. The built-in benefit must be something strong enough that it can inspire prospects to switch over from a competitor and buy your product instead. If your USP is something that no one cares about, you won't accomplish much in the way of sales.
The easiest way to come up with a USP that meets all of these requirements is to base it around a feature that your product has and the others in your industry don't. All you need to do is craft an appropriate benefit phrase based on that feature, jiggle the words around until you have something catchy, and you're done. However, having a unique feature is not a requirement for having a USP.
If your product doesn't have something unique, you can instead choose to emphasize a feature that your competitors have failed to use in their own advertising. For example, let's say that you are a widget manufacturer and you are in competition with six other manufacturers who make widgets that are practically identical to yours. All of the widgets made at all of these companies come with a coating to protect them from rust, but your competitors have never mentioned this in their marketing materials. In that case, you can create a USP saying something like “Fred's Widgets can take a dunking and stay strong.” It doesn't matter that your competitors have the same feature – once you've started using this benefit phrase, you've staked the claim on the feature and if your competitors bring it up in their own marketing materials it'll just sound like they're copying you.
Other ideas for USPs include manufacturing practices such as safety requirements or environmental precautions; warranties and maintenance deals; and special financing plans. Anything that might benefit your customers under some reasonable set of circumstances is fair game. Of course, the bigger the benefit, the easier it will be to come up with a strong USP.
Once you have your USP, use it in every piece of material you send to prospects or customers. That means putting it on your website, your business cards, the signature line of your emails, stationery, freemiums such as calendars and coffee mugs, and so on – not just brochures. The more you use your USP, the more you will 'own' that particular benefit in the public's mind.
By Wendy Connick
http://sales.about.com/
Reeves stated that there are three primary requirements for crafting a good USP:
It contains a benefit. A strong USP will have a benefit phrase built right into it. Your USP should make it
completely clear to prospects exactly what they will get in return for buying the product.
It must be unique. Not necessarily unique in the entire universe of products for sale on Earth, but at the very least your USP should be unique for your industry. The chief benefit of possessing a USP is that it sets you apart from the competition, so if your USP's benefit is the same one that a competitor offers, you're wasting your time.
It must matter to prospects. The built-in benefit must be something strong enough that it can inspire prospects to switch over from a competitor and buy your product instead. If your USP is something that no one cares about, you won't accomplish much in the way of sales.
The easiest way to come up with a USP that meets all of these requirements is to base it around a feature that your product has and the others in your industry don't. All you need to do is craft an appropriate benefit phrase based on that feature, jiggle the words around until you have something catchy, and you're done. However, having a unique feature is not a requirement for having a USP.
If your product doesn't have something unique, you can instead choose to emphasize a feature that your competitors have failed to use in their own advertising. For example, let's say that you are a widget manufacturer and you are in competition with six other manufacturers who make widgets that are practically identical to yours. All of the widgets made at all of these companies come with a coating to protect them from rust, but your competitors have never mentioned this in their marketing materials. In that case, you can create a USP saying something like “Fred's Widgets can take a dunking and stay strong.” It doesn't matter that your competitors have the same feature – once you've started using this benefit phrase, you've staked the claim on the feature and if your competitors bring it up in their own marketing materials it'll just sound like they're copying you.
Other ideas for USPs include manufacturing practices such as safety requirements or environmental precautions; warranties and maintenance deals; and special financing plans. Anything that might benefit your customers under some reasonable set of circumstances is fair game. Of course, the bigger the benefit, the easier it will be to come up with a strong USP.
Once you have your USP, use it in every piece of material you send to prospects or customers. That means putting it on your website, your business cards, the signature line of your emails, stationery, freemiums such as calendars and coffee mugs, and so on – not just brochures. The more you use your USP, the more you will 'own' that particular benefit in the public's mind.
By Wendy Connick
http://sales.about.com/
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