Unique Selling Proposition

In my review posted of

USP: How To Craft Your Unique Selling Proposition

by Tara Jacobsen and Rebekah Welch posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave it Three Stars.

Here is my review.

More focused on elevator pitches than an authentic, differentiating USP.

Working out how you can differentiate yourself from your competitors and communicate it to the customers is very important. Since this is an area of particular interest to me, I’m working my way around all the books.

This book takes quite a while to really get going and then produces a number of fill in the gaps phrases formulas to create what I think is much more of an elevator pitch than a USP although the two are linked. [continue reading…]

The full title of this book by Jalanda James is

Unique Selling Proposition Formulas For Positioning Your Small Business

In my review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave it Three Stars.

Here is my review.

Interesting review of approaches to create USPs

I’m fascinated by how businesses differentiate themselves from competitors and how they communicate their differences to their potential customers.

I welcome this short, low cost book which sets out four formulas for creating a USP although it’s fairer to say that these are approaches rather than an X + Y style “fill in the blanks” formulas. [continue reading…]

The full title of this book by Andrey Polston is

USP Breakthrough: The Power To Get More Customers, Close More Deals, and Charge Higher Prices

In my review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave it 3 Stars.

Here is my review.

An interesting approach to an important topic

I’ll encourage every small business owner who has to face up to competition, to think about their USP (unique selling proposition) because its purpose is to differentiate your business.

This book starts with an offer to download a USP companion guide packed with brainstorm questions and idea generators for each of the six steps in the USP Builder Process. It sounds good but it should be in the book that people buy rather than available, presumably in exchange for an email address. I say presumably because I clicked and the page wasn’t available. [continue reading…]

I was thinking about creating my own video on USPs so I went to YouTube and the other video sharing websites and found an overwhelming number of existing videos to choose from.

I thought that you might appreciate some feedback on these videos about unique selling propositions.

USP Unique Selling Proposition, Value Proposition Definition by Dr Lisa Lang

This is an 8 minute long video by the main promoter of the Theory of Constraints version of the USP, the Mafia Offer.

Irritatingly it has a short advertisement at the start but you can skip it.

The purpose of this video is to explain the importance of having a USP and then the limitations of the “traditional approach”b to convince you that you really need a Mafia Offer based on the Theory of Constraints.

What is a USP (per video) – A marketing concept and short statement to differentiate your company or products or to explain your positioning in the marketplace. [continue reading…]

Your USP or unique selling proposition is not just a marketing slogan. It is a commitment that needs to be lived and breathed by all the members of your team.

Many people have a direct or indirect effect on how your business delivers its promise and uniqueness. If they don’t, they need to understand that their job is about reducing the costs of manufacture, delivery and service to a minimum.

Do Your Staff Know Your USP? [continue reading…]

Must you have a USP or unique selling proposition to succeed in business and to win orders?

The answer really depends on the competitive situation your business has and how well informed your customers are.

Let me explain.

What Is A USP?

Your USP is a short statement or phrase that explains why customers should buy from you rather than your competition.

>>> What is a USP?

Interestingly, the place where it is effective is in the mind of your customers.

[continue reading…]

Your Irresistible Promise is a positioning statement – like a USP – that helps customers to understand why they should buy from you rather than from others.

Summarising Your Product, Service Or Business In A Few Words

These positioning statements are important for two reasons:

1. To tell the outside world – and especially customers – what your business is all about.
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2. To tell your inside world and to keep you focused – your employees and suppliers need to have a clear understanding of what your business offers so that they can give you the maximum support and therefore, justify their value to you. It also keeps you clear on what your business offers that is special in a world where opportunity chasing can cause strategic drift.

Customers and prospective customers in your target market will have an opinion about you provided they have come into contact. Sometimes that opinion is fleeting – into their mind and rejected when they see your marketing and then forgotten. Other times, an impression stays in their mind, for good or bad.

It’s in your interests to manage that opinion – to make it both positive and memorable. [continue reading…]

Various people have claimed that the USP is dead but are they right or are they trying to gain attention for a similar concept?

In this blog article, I’m going to have a look at what they say.

The USP Spoiler

Part of the controversy come from the various definitions of the USP or unique selling proposition or the confusion between an effective value proposition that positions your business and persuades customers you are the most relevant buying choice and an advertising slogan like KFC’s meaningless “so good”.

R.I.P. – The Unique Selling Proposition is dead

http://cranberry.com/business/marketing/r-i-p-the-unique-selling-proposition-is-dead-0804 (link no longer available)

The definition

The widely held concept behind the Unique Selling Proposition (USP) is that in a competitive marketplace, the best way to distinguish one’s product or service from the homogeneous pack it to define oneself with a single, unparralled trait that sums up in as few words as possible what makes you special.

The claim is made in the book, “The #1 Way to Increase Your Close Rate: What You Stand Against,” by business coach Michael R. Drew. [continue reading…]

Focusing on one benefit in your USP makes it easy for customers to understand and remember through repeated exposures to your marketing messages but is it enough?

Various guides to creating a USP (Unique Selling Proposition or Unique Selling Point) stress that you MUST focus on communicating one benefit that is different from that offered by competitors.

I don’t agree.

If only the real world was that simple.

I believe that effective differentiation and communication and perception of how one supplier is different from another is usually multi-dimensional.

I touched on this subject when I looked at what makes Amazon unique and special:

>>> Are Unique Selling Propositions And Unique Selling Points The Same?

It’s also a point that is emphasised well when you look at Customer Value Attribute Maps and how you can start thinking about creating your own differentiated value proposition.

>>> >>> The Stop Start More Less Process For Differentiation Of Products And Services

Did Fedex Concentrate On One Benefit In Their USP? [continue reading…]