Lesson 22

The Unique Selling

Proposition (USP).
TOPICS COVERED
Developing a Unique Selling Proposition (USP), the art of finding your own USP,
Developing the Positioning Statement and the Tagline, Key elements of a great USP,
Top 7 Ways To Design Your USP, the Levi’s story, Budweiser as Buddy, identifying
and building USP on the Internet.

OBJECTIVES
1. To learn the process of developing a USP for a brand.
2. To compare and study USPs of brands in different product lines.
3. Identify if USPs have been successfully developed or not.
4. To understand importance of developing USP on the Internet.
5.

In developing your marketing message, it's very helpful to develop a Unique

Selling Proposition, or USP.

What is a USP? The USP very clearly answers the question, "Why should I do
business with you instead of your competitors?"

The USP may be used repetitively in your marketing literature to build the
customer's or client's identification of your company with your product or service.

There are two major benefits in developing the USP. First, it clearly differentiates
your business in the eyes of your current and potential customers or clients.
Second, it focuses your team on delivering the promise of the USP, helping to
improve your internal performance.

For example, who do you think of when you hear the phrase, "Fresh, hot pizza
delivered in 30 minutes or less, guaranteed"?

Dominos virtually took over the delivered pizza market with that USP. Notice
Dominos didn't even promise the pizza tasted good.
How do you think a Dominos delivery person would behave compared to a
delivery person who works for a competitor without this USP? Do you think the
team at Dominos made a considerable effort to develop systems to assure the USP
was met?

Beware of the "cutesy phrase." The USP does not need to be expressed in 25
words or less. It could be a detailed set of performance standards. It should be
tested to assure the USP addresses a need that is truly important to the buyer.

Would you like some assistance in developing your USP? We would glad to act
as a facilitator for you and your team in this process.

Unique Selling Proposition

What is a unique selling proposition or USP? Very simply stated, your USP is what
differentiates your product from your competition's product.

What a USP looks like:

1. It's one sentence.

2. It is clearly written, so that anyone can understand it.
3. It should be believable.
4. It is composed of one benefit that is unique solely to your company or product

Develop a USP using one or more of the following strategies:

1. Focus on a niche. In other words, before you develop the USP, find your target
market. Who exactly are you selling to?
2. Fill a void. This is similar to finding a niche. Look for a void in the market and fill
it with your USP.
3. Concentrate on "pain" or "pleasure."
4. State how your product will solve a problem.
5. Look at your competition.
6. Tell the customer what they are going to get - what's in it for them.
7. Make it "measurable." Time and price are measurable qualities.

More Tips:

1. Sit down with a piece of paper:

a. Brainstorm.
b. List all the benefits your company or product can offer.
c. Prioritize those benefits in order of what is the strongest, and most unique
to your business.
d. Write one sentence that conveys the first benefit on the list.
2. Every employee should know your USP and be able to state it. (Especially if you
are a small business.)
 3. Your marketing campaigns, your marketing plan, and your business plan should
surround your USP.

Fulfill the Needs and Desires of Your Prospects

The key to a great marketing campaign starts with under- standing how the needs of your
prospect relate to your product or service. It's basic, but most business owners never
consider the thought. Until you know what they need and determine how you can satisfy
those needs, you can't really plan a meaningful campaign.

Get a pen and paper out and ask yourself these questions:

If I were a prospect getting solicited by my company, what would it take to get

my attention?
What promise would I want fulfilled?
What needs would I want to have met?

Now ask yourself:

What needs and desires are my competitors not fulfilling?

The best way to find out where you need the most work is to list all the needs and desires
your competitors are already fulfilling. Maybe you are fulfilling these desires too, but is it
possible that you could articulate it better than they can? Sure!

A good USP (unique selling proposition) is one that fulfills a void in the marketplace. It
is communicated clearly and concisely so that your prospects "get it."

It's also known as your "big promise." So, it's important that not only do you
communicate it in everything you do and say... but that you standby it - always!

To formulate your marketing campaign, along with the lines of your USP, I suggest
asking yourself the following questions.

How can I show more interest in my customers than my competition?

How much more service can I offer than my competitor does?
What are my specific added or extended service benefits?
When I have used similar services from competitors, where have I been most
impressed -- or most disappointed? And, why?
How can I make my customers understand how important they are to me?
How can I persuade them they are being treated with professional interest and
courtesy?
What specific needs should my product or service fulfill?

As you are aware, without a customer your business doesn't exist.

Stop running your business the way YOU want it, and start running it the way YOUR
CUSTOMERS want it.

It's all about them. It's never about you.

Treat your customers like dear and valued friends. Give them what they want. Treat them
with respect and courtesy. Communicate with them often. Let them know you care about
their wants, needs and desires.

If you've asked yourself the questions above, you are 1000 percent better than your
competition. Rarely will ANY business ask themselves these questions. It shows in their
poor revenues.

Always remember: It's all about their needs, wants and desires. It's never about yours.

The Art of Finding Your Unique Selling Proposition

Positioning is about making your offering different from, and more valuable than, your
competitors' offerings--and placing that idea in the minds of a target group of customers.
Positioning attracts customers by creating a positive and unique identity for your
company and its offerings. Positioning is vital for distinguishing your offering from
everybody else's.

In a world where there are more and more products and services every day, your
customers are on advertising overload all the time. So they pick something to believe and
hold that notion until a message breaks through and persuades them to change.

People can't hold warring ideas in their heads. They can't believe that the Norton
Anthology is the best study guide for English literature, then study from a set of Cliffs
Notes and believe they're doing the best they can to pass their exams. They can't believe
that all paper towels are pretty much alike, buy one that costs more than most, and think
that they are wise shoppers. The point is, positioning is your effort to claim a high ground
in that overloaded prospect's head and hold it against competition.

Perception of your Business

How will your business be perceived as different from your competition in the minds of
your targeted customers? To figure this out, you must look for your best customer and
then design a position that matches his or her wants and needs to an advantage that only
you can offer. Remember, you can't be all things to all people, but you can be the vendor
of choice for a group of them.

Positioning Affects Every Aspect of Your Communications--And Your Business

Positioning is the basis for all your communications--your packaging and product design,
sales promotions, advertising, and public relations. Everything you do must reinforce that
position--otherwise you just undermine your marketing efforts and sow confusion instead
of confidence. Positioning is serious business. You must choose the right position, for
now and down the road.

Do the work now to develop a clear position for your business vis-à-vis your competitors.
You'll ensure that you get the most from your advertising budget. The truth is that with
enough money, you can buy success in advertising. Mediocre, unfocused messages from
a company without a clear position will generate sales surprisingly well if that company
buys enough time or space to pound the message home. But think how much farther that
budget could take you if you had a focused message, a unique selling proposition, and a
target audience for your offering. Positioning - and the creative approach that grows from
it--make the difference.

Developing the Positioning Statement and the Tagline

To begin creating your own sense of positioning for your business, answer the following
questions with short, articulate answers that relate your offering to your customers' needs.

1. What does your business do?

2. For whom?
3. What is your biggest benefit to them?
4. Prove your claim. To what do you attribute that benefit?
5. How will your customers perceive this benefit, relative to the competition?
Don’t tell them what you do. Tell them what you do for them.”

As a small business owner, service provider or medical professional, one of the biggest
challenges you will face is telling others what you do. The challenge comes from the fact
that most people are only interested if what you do fits what they need or want.
Otherwise they are not interested. You must tell the listener how your product or service
can benefit him, and how you can do it better than others who do what you do.

This is your unique selling proposition (USP).

Your unique selling proposition is the core of your marketing message. It tells suspects,
prospects and customers about the value you provide in a clear, concise format. It is not a
job description – “I wash windows” but a statement of purpose with a benefit – “I
improve your view of the world outside your window.”

A great USP has these key elements:

1. Outward Focus. Instead of talking about you, your offering or your credentials, your
USP should focus outside, on the prospect or customer.

2. Targets a specific group or niche. The best USP statements are personalized to the
group or individual you are addressing. For example, when speaking to a doctor, I would
say
“I help medical professionals find more profitable candidates for their elective
procedures.”

When speaking to a diverse group (such as the chamber of commerce) I would be more
general:

“hot communications designs hair-on-fire marketing programs that help you attract more
clients and earn more money.”

3. Easily understood and retained. Detailed discussion of process should be reserved

for a sales presentation, and are not appropriate for an introduction.

Stating your USP clearly and quickly makes it easy for your prospect to remember you
when you follow up. What you do should be self-explanatory.

4. Offers an obvious benefit. Tell your prospect how you can ease his pain. This
presupposes that you understand the problems of your target market, and have a solution.

Some people get this backward, and create a solution in search of a problem (or create a
problem in search of more problems!).

5. Avoids jargon. Engineers and purveyors of technical services love to talk the talk.
Here’s one I heard recently:

“We create enterprise software for core competency implementation.” (Huh?)

Even if your target market is highly specialized, you should assume that you share only
one common language – English.

6. Integrates easily with your marketing materials. Your USP should become of your
branding efforts, and should appear on all your marketing materials, including your
business cards, stationary, and website and brochures. In some instances, your USP
becomes your brand:

“Have it your way. At Burger King.”

Ultimately, your USP becomes your primary marketing message, your elevator speech.

Much like scriptwriters who are coached to sum up the plot in one sentence, your unique
selling proposition provides a clear, concise benefit statement that positively represents
you and your company, and leaves a memorable and favorable impression in the mind of
your prospect.
Top 7 Ways To Design Your USP
(Unique Selling Proposition)

1. Your USP must be one sentence.

2. Every person on your team needs to be able to articulate it easily.
3. Your USP is either Pain or Pleasure oriented. Since most people will do more to
avoid pain than to gain pleasure, you might want to model your USP around the
pain that your product or service removes.
4. Make sure your marketing theme, campaigns, and business plans evolve around
your USP. Did you ever see a business whose marketing pushes had nothing to do
with their USP, and it made it look like that company had a values conflict?
5. "Do you know how [state the pain or problem the prospect has]" "What I do is
[state the solution your product/service solves]"
6. Your USP should address a void in the marketplace, with a promise your firm can
honestly fill.
7. The true test of whether you've designed a good USP or not, is if sells for you in
the marketplace. Does it define your edge and is or does the marketplace value it
with their pocketbook?
And don't sweat it if you don't have one yet, because there is always time. Most
businesses are rudderless, shifting and moving to market momentum without a plan or
defined niche.....BUT it doesn't have to be that way. Write down RIGHT now what
makes your business unique, and get started.

Your Unique Selling Proposition

In developing your marketing message, it is very helpful to develop a Unique Selling
Proposition, or USP.

What is a USP? The USP very clearly answers the question, "Why should I do business
with you instead of your competitors?"

The USP may be used repetitively in your marketing literature to build the customer's or
client's identification of your company with your product or service.

1. The multi-faceted personality of Levi's advertising

Based primarily on Fuller K, "The Levi 501 Campaign, ADMAP, March 1995

Until quite recently, a view prevailed that brand campaigns achieved the most impact by
being one dimensional. At the extreme the brand was still conceptualised as a product
that was best supported by a Unique Selling Proposition (USP). This did have the virtue
of management simplicity, but truly powerful brand organisations now direct
personalities with more intriguing breadth and depth.
Whilst Levi's has always thought of its friendship with consumers in more broadly
empathic terms, than purists of the USP school, it was only in the great Levis 501
campaigns that the brand fully visualised the multifaceted personality it wanted to be.
As the figure below shows, Levi's used seven dominant character traits.

No advertisement can meaningfully portray all of these. So Levi's marketers and

advertising agency Bartle, Bogle, Hegarty rotated through selection of traits embedded in
nine commercials that made up the epic Levi's 501 Serial.

Figure 1 : Levi's Personality traits (rows)

triggered by commercials in the campaign series (columns)

Poo
Pawn l Processio
Launderette Fridge Parting Beach Swimmer Creek
broker Hal n
l

Romance X X X
Sexual
X X X X X X
Attraction
Physical
X X
Prowess
Resourcefuln
X X X X
ess
Rebellion X X
Independence X X X
Being
X X X X X
Admired

2. Budweiser as Buddy

WCBN file (1995) featuring extract from Randazzo Sal (1993), "Mythmaking on
Madison Avenue", Probus (Chicago)

In the US Budweiser brand, we have an intricate example of how identifiers can be

threaded together as consumer codes to portray a national institution. This analysis of
Budweiser's identity draws on a book by Sal Randazzo in which Budweiser is called
archetypal of a male mythology brand. Says Randazzo:

"The unique power of advertising goes beyond its ability to build and maintain
successful, enduring brands by creating perceptual entities that reflect the consumer's
values, dreams and fantasies.
The following inventory of US consumer codes helps to explain "Budweiserness" by
suggesting seven of the brand's most significant consumer codes (together with an Anglo
Saxon's attempt to translate meanings for non-American readers).

Brand Identifier => context as American consumer code

Clydesdales => these are shire horses used by Budweiser at promotional

events and previously in delivering beer. They fascinate Americans and connote macho
images of power, strength and working pride.

Cvolski => most famous execution of a long running series of slice-

of-life ads featuring blue collar workers as America's real heroes

This Bud's for you => Budweiser's long running brand slogan

Red, White & Blue => brand's packaging colours (corresponding to America's
national colours)

American eagle => the company's oldest trademark modelled on the bald
eagle (America's national symbol)

Beechwood ageing => Budweiser's product legend inscribed on every pack

with the proposition that "this proprietary process "produces unique taste, smoothness
and drinkability - we know of no other brand of beer that costs so much to brew or age"

Genuine article => the heritage of being America's number 1 brand of beer

Some points to digest from this partial inventory of Budweiser identities are:

Each identifying code is a valuable property right as a contributor to Budweiser's image

bank. Each code has required a large and continuous marketing investment to imprint its
association of Budweiser on American consumers' minds.

Each identifying code is intimately related to Budweiser's essence as a leader - namely

being the product hero of the American working male by portraying the American male
as (unsung) hero. Budweiser's inventory of identities are engineered to work with each
other in developing an integrated picture. It links product connoisseurship with images of
working males with the integrity of traditional American values and overall pride in
belonging.

Once you have examined how intimately a brand's vital reserves depend on its inventory
of identities in consumers minds, it is difficult to attach credibility to any analysis of
brand positioning, brand valuation or brand 'anything' unless it includes an integrated
analysis of brand identity.
Exercise: which of Budweiser’s identifiers do you think was being used in which of these
varied communications goals?

• General recall of brand as top of mind

• Specific recall of brand as top of mind (e.g. occasion of use, calendar of mind)
• Heighten visibility/recognition of brand (e.g. impact in a specific media or on a
new platform)
• Badge brand with personality or other image to wear
• Extend a brand
• Endow a brand with a stereotype bringing instant cosmopolitan appeal
• Local buy-in to a globally branded phenomenon
• Develop architectural strengths of high level brands (e.g. corporate/banner
brands)
• Build linkages between brands (e.g. corporate brand and product sub-brand)
• General reminder of brand essence
• Pre-emptive (e.g. symbolic) ownership of brand essence
• Souvenir of brand essence (or other empathy translator)
• Connect up values of flagship brands to benefit other brands
• Seed a brand's cachet
• Brand a word-of-mouth legend
• Identify a brand's own PR platform
• Transition a brand through evolution of its identity system
• Translate essence into lifestyle or service guarantee
• Express a corporate tone of voice; a cultural style.

Positioning Is Important
Al Ries and Jack Trout coined the term "positioning" in the early 1980s in their book,
"Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind." Although a few years have passed since the
book was released, the core ideas they express are just as true today.

Positioning refers to the way a product, service, or person is presented to the buying
public. To properly position yourself on the Internet, you must consider many factors:

• Your name
• Your Web address (URL)
• The benefits of what you offer
• Your personal strengths and weaknesses
• The strengths and weaknesses of your competition

How people generally perceive the category in which you seek an impact

Ries and Trout contend that positioning is not something you do to a product, service, or
to yourself. It's something you do to a human mind. It's all about perception and how you
fit in -- especially when compared to the other perceptions that already exist in each
potential fan's brain.
Crafting the best identity for you should be based on what already exists within you. In
other words, you shouldn't conjure up an image you feel would be cool and then mold
yourself into that identity.

The brand you create should be based on who you truly are as a human being. It should
reflect your real skills and personality. Remember the pop duo Milli Vanilli and the
fallout that occurred when it was discovered they didn't actually sing on their best-selling
album? Faking it doesn't work.

The same goes for the person on the other end of the positioning equation: your potential
fan. A person's preferences and view of the world are influenced mainly by the memories
and attitudes that already exist in his or her mind, which explains why most people aren't
easily swayed by dazzling advertising blitzes and publicity campaigns. If they were,
every dot-com company that ran a Super Bowl ad would be prospering today. The truth
is, they're not.

Remember the Pets.com sock puppet? The company used the mascot in a flurry of
television ads in early 2000. Nine months later, when the Web site shut its doors, it was
just another stray dog that had lost its way.

The mistake Pets.com made was assuming that, since consumers were spending millions
online buying books and airline tickets, people would also buy pet supplies in the same
manner - if only the company got the word out on a grand enough scale.

So ... how can you make sure that your personal brand image makes an impact on the
Internet?

What is your USP?

We know many things about ourselves, including the clients in our CRM system, whether
our time zone is EST or CDT, and if our favorite show is on ABC or CBS. We know this
information like our own DNA. Otherwise we'd have to send out an SOS.

But many law firms don't know their USP. Even if they didn't they would have difficulty
articulating it. Yet it's something that clients look for. It makes all the difference in
whether your firm is chosen. Certainly your USP is an important point to put on your
Web site. Yet it rarely appears.

What I'm talking about is your Unique Selling Proposition. What exactly is so special
about your law firm?

Have you figured out your USP?

I can tell that many law firms have not figured out their USP. Their web sites pronounce
that the firm "has a tradition of excellence and adherence to the highest ethical
standards." Others say that the firm is "committed to building a seamless network of
offices staffed by locally qualified lawyers who are indigenous to the business
communities in which they and their clients operate."

That's a lot of words, but they don't say anything. You could take these grand phrases and
apply them to any law firm anywhere. They may be selling propositions, but there's
nothing unique about them.

Still other Web sites don't give any USP, they make no claim to uniqueness at all. The
Web sites just list the firm name and a set of practice areas. Like a billboard that's been in
the weather to long, it's merely there, and no one pays attention.

A variety of claims

Take a look at your Web site - where is your USP set forth? Here are a variety of claims,
none of which are USPs:

We are big. You'll see this on sites that say "500 lawyers in 20 cities" or something like
that. The statistics may be accurate, but the claim is generic. Headcount numbers will
separate the 3,000-lawyer firm from the 3-lawyer firm, but that doesn't sell a firm well.
Clients don't buy lawyers according to quantity. Clients hire individual lawyers for their
legal matters, and the firm Web site should show how incomparable each is.

We are old. I'm never impressed by this claim. What difference does it make to a client if
the firm has been around since 1840 or 1940? Give or take a century, it doesn't matter.
What clients are concerned with are current legal events, new legislation and timely
changes in the law. A law firm Web site should demonstrate that a law firm knows what's
going on right now, not that it helped the commander of the fort deal with the gold rush.

We are smart. Yes, law firms love to state that they hire the smartest law grads and
boast that they went to the finest schools. Web biographies never fail to mention that the
lawyer was Order of the Coif and got a degree magna cum laude. But this doesn't bring in
new business. Clients can't tell a bad law school from a good one, and they already
presume that the lawyers are smart. Smartness is not a differentiator.

We are honest. Other versions of this statement are "we have integrity" and "we are
ethical." This claim is no help at all. Clients already expect a law firm to be honorable,
moral and trustworthy. Nothing could be more basic. Furthermore, how can the Web site
prove this point? There's no sincere way to support this assertion.

We do good work. Again, clients expect this. If I found a site that said "we have a
reputation for successfully managing complex legal matters," I would guess this is better
than a reputation for bungling them. In any event, clients have no way to measure the
quality of legal work. All they can tell is how long it took to get and how much it cost.

We practice in many areas. Law firms love to list every possible area of law they know.
Not that it matters to clients, but they'll list real estate, real estate tax, real estate
transactions and commercial real estate practices. There will be securities litigation,
commercial litigation and plain vanilla litigation. Typically these reflect organizational
distinctions within the firm, but they don't mean anything to clients.

What clients look for

In many marketing conferences, and the best part is always when a panel of general
counsel tell the audience what they look for in law firms. They will go through their pet
peeves and their special favorites, but eventually they'll disclose what they are looking
for in a law firm. These items are the unique selling propositions that matter to clients:

What industries do you have experience with? It matters to a client if the law firm knows
their industry. Clients see themselves as a member of an industry, and they follow the
trends that affect it. They do not see themselves as a member of a law firm practice
group. Client are impressed if the lawyer has knowledge of what's going on in their
industry

Do you represent similar businesses? If the client is a retail clothing store, they want to
know if you've represented other similar businesses. It makes clients comfortable if you
have, because you'll know how their business works and what's important to them.

Have you handled similar cases? Clients want to look at a law firm Web site and find
examples of transactions and cases you've handled. It demonstrates that you know what
you're doing, you've gotten results and you've been through the issues before.

There are many more elements to a unique selling proposition. Your USP is going to be
different from your competitors'. The sooner you define what it is, the easier it will be for
clients to choose your firm.

Summary

In this lesson you learnt what is Unique Selling Proposition (USP), how important it is
in the marketing matrix, what are the factors to consider while planning for a brand’s
USP even on the Internet.

Assignments

1. Study a brand’s USP and write an account of how the brand communication has
been built around this. Also refer to competition and the USP they have
developed.
2. What are the key elements involved in the Unique Selling Proposition of any
brand? Give an example of a brand where all these elements have been
incorporated. Has this been done successfully and has it benefited the brand ?