The phrase unique selling proposition or USP for short is quite common in advertising and marketing. And with all the intelligibility of words, not all companies were able to form a USP and use it to promote their product. Most people think that everything good ideas already used by someone and it is almost impossible to come up with something new.

What is UTP

Unique selling proposition from English. unique selling proposition (more commonly used abbreviation USP) is the concept according to which advertising and product promotion must be based on certain unique properties product that is understandable and beneficial to the consumer. The USP is, first of all, the selection of your product among all competitors. The word "unique" implies not being replicated by competitors. Unlike classical window advertising, which was opposed by the USP strategy, your product must be associated, recognized and unified by the client precisely with the benefit described in the USP.

In many products, especially complex ones, there are a lot of features and benefits, and many of them are unique to a certain extent. The USP concept is about trying to promote all the benefits at the same time. It is better to single out one main benefit and put all your efforts into promoting it.

The manufacturer likes to patent and use in advertising the same developments under different names. For example, one of the manufacturers washing machines began to promote the "easy ironing" function. In fact, this is just the usual delicate washing mode, but this marketing trick worked fantastically for the consumer. Soon, this option appeared in all leading manufacturers of washing machines. But the name changed a little, then light ironing, then simple ironing, then they simply drew a button with the image of an iron.

Often people think that USP needs some unique product or service. In fact, it is much more important to be able to highlight unique properties in the product and present them correctly to the client. There are a lot of examples, look at how social media has spread. instagram network. It was founded in 2010, when the market was already more than saturated. Having relied on a rather narrow niche at that time - online publication of photographs, social. the network was able to stand out, attract attention and, as a result, get ahead of many competitors.

For the first time, Rosser Reeves spoke about the concept of USP. In 1961, in his book Reality in Advertising, he talked about the rationalist approach to sales. Advertising, according to this approach, should focus on those or other unique properties of a product or service that bring clear, tangible benefits to the client.

Three principles of USP

3 main principles were formed that must be observed to form a unique selling proposition:

1. Advertise an important benefit for the client;
2. The benefit must be unique, that is, not available to competitors;
3. The above two points should have a strong impact on the client, .

The USP concept takes into account that the client is guided in making decisions not only by reason and logic, but also by emotions. New and interesting properties arouse interest, surprise and interest (read the article). These are important parameters for attracting the attention of a client to a product or service.

Of course, once you've been able to grab a customer's attention, they'll start evaluating your product in terms of the usefulness of the benefits presented. And if he finds them, he will buy the goods. It is the emotional component that prepares the client for the purchase, and logic and emotions close the deal.

True and false USPs

So, you have your own product, for example, you deliver water for offices. There are a lot of companies like you, and at first glance, uniqueness is out of the question. But if there is no uniqueness, it needs to be created. For example, you can position yourself as the fastest delivery, same day delivery, accept cash, include water for the rich in your assortment, order pizza once a month for regular customers, etc. Standing out from the crowd is much easier than it seems at first glance.

A unique selling proposition (USP) is a prominent characteristic of a product or brand upon which marketers build an advertising campaign; usually it is used for differentiation.

From a consumer perspective, this is the reason people should buy from you rather than from another seller with a similar product. Why should you use Slack and not Facebook? Why order pizza from Papa John's when Pizza Hut is available? A well-formulated offer answers these and similar questions.

How does the UTP work?

Some companies are undeniably dominant in their field. They are the only ones on the market - because they are huge or so innovative that no one else offers similar solutions. But this situation rarely lasts long.

A value proposition is an opportunity to convey to the buyer that no one else is doing the same as you. Your brand is extraordinary. Best. It is associated with success, positive, good luck. In a word, buy our product, and "everything will be Coca-Cola."

USP offers a product or service that is not available through other channels: even from competitors who, at first glance, offer analogues.

The USP links a brand to what it sells. If you offer a whole list of services, no one will understand what you are doing. But if you call yourself "the city's premier SEO agency" or "the best americano in town," consumers will think of you when they need SEO or a cup of coffee. If you are a web studio or cafe, your offer is weak because it is not separated from the competition. use well known fact that a person does not need a drill, but a hole, and they say that a person will drill the right hole only with a drill of a specific brand.

How does the USP differ from the slogan and mission of the company?

A slogan is the quintessential brand identity and everything it offers. A slogan can contain a USP, and many good examples do. An example from FedEx: "When a package needs to be delivered overnight." The mission is also likely to resonate with the value proposition. But, unlike the mission and slogan, the USP is what distinguishes your company from the rest and attracts consumers. From this grows marketing, sales and all market positioning.

Value propositions are so familiar that we no longer notice them. Every good ad has a well-articulated offer, and most companies succeed with a good USP. When all search engines used only keywords, PageRank was Google's unique selling proposition.

What does a good USP look like?

A striking example that became the basis advertising campaign and at the same time - a successful slogan, represents Avis, a brand that provides car rental services. For many years he was second only to the mighty Hertz. In 1962, on the verge of bankruptcy, Avis took their problem to advertising agency Doyle Dane Bertzbach, whose staff found a way to turn a negative feature - #2, not #1 - into a positive one.

The problem was this:

Avis is only #2 in the car rental market. So why contact us?
We are trying.
We just can't afford dirty ashtrays. Or half-empty gas tanks. Or worn wipers. Or dirty cars. Or flat tires. Or something less than chair back adjusters that actually adjust. Furnaces that heat. Anti-icers that prevent windows from freezing.
Most of all, we try to be good. meet you with new car, for example, a four-wheel drive Ford, and a sweet smile. Know, for example, where you can buy a good sandwich in Duluth.
Why?
Because we can't afford to take customers for granted.
So please contact us next time.
We have shorter queues.

From this text, marketers made a value proposition:

Avis is only No. 2 in the car rental market
Therefore we try.

They affected clients:

What matters is not the slogan itself, but the fact that it turns a negative characterization into a positive one and contains a clear, compelling value proposition. Why rent a car from Avis and not, say, from Hertz? After all, a car is a car. But Avis managed to offer best service and best experience consistent with the values ​​and interests of consumers. In the first four years after the introduction of this slogan, Avis' market share grew from 11% to 35%. They used it until 2012.

However, this old story. How about more modern ones?

The obvious choice is Saddleback Leather. They, like Avis, needed to turn a disadvantage into a virtue: they make leather bags, and quality leather is expensive. In some cases, it's just terribly expensive: prices start at $300 and sometimes go over $1,000. How do you turn this obstacle into a unique selling proposition?

Saddleback Leather offered an incredibly long warranty of 100 years. And highlighted it following words: because the bag is likely to outlive its owner.

• How to understand which product characteristics to emphasize in a unique selling proposition
• Creating a unique selling proposition: how often to update the USP
• Examples of a unique selling proposition: what to base on if the products are no different from competitors' offers

Unique selling proposition still have to be considered a fairly young phenomenon that has begun to be used in Russian business since the early 2000s, when brands began to enter the market.

We have to admit that with a lot of talk about this issue, are actually involved in USP development few. Most companies in Russia do not have a clear understanding of their target audience, as a result they are focused on everyone.

How often does a manager need to deal with the company's strategy or change it? Most of the directors who created successful businesses, and management consultants agree on one thing: in present times- constantly. A change in strategy is not an indicator of weakness, but, on the contrary, an indicator of the company's vitality.

In this article, we have collected four types of strategic approaches, their examples, as well as templates and tables for defining a company's strategy.

Without the ability to distinguish itself from its competitors, without the ability to highlight the features of its offer to customers, the company will be forced to limit itself to a rather modest flow of buyers and sales.

Algorithm for developing the right USP

First step. Collection of primary information. A table should be drawn up, which will indicate the characteristics of the products and competitive advantages for the client, which he receives through cooperation with your company. Experience confirms that the more written, the better. It will be possible to write 15 competitive characteristics - excellent, 20 - even better. At the same time, all benefits and advantages for customers, albeit insignificant, should be described. After specifying your advantages, you should cross out those benefits that your competitors can offer. Our goal is to find and offer competitors the advantages that only we have.

Second step. Checking the relevance of benefits.

1. Search engine statistics. You should test each of the selected benefits with a search query to understand how often potential customers try to find a solution to a similar problem.
2. Feedback cards. For loyal customers, you can offer to fill out feedback cards, highlighting the most important benefits.
3. Open question. If it is not possible to achieve clear results by comparing their advantages with the benefits offered by competitors, sales staff and marketers should be instructed to ask loyal customers the question - “Why do you choose to work with us?”. Quite a variety of answers can come out of the output, but the most common ones can be used for your USP.
4. Sales analysis. This method was used to create a unique selling proposition for a garment factory. The head of the sales department noted the high demand for women's clothing large sizes and clothing for overweight compared to other positions in the assortment of the enterprise. This information formed the basis of a unique selling proposition: “Clothes for obese women. Our dresses, thanks to a special cut, allow you to hide the fullness and emphasize the beauty of the figure - all your femininity. This text was chosen for advertisement when published in newspapers, magazines and other media. Over time, it was possible to confirm the excellent dynamics general increase the number of sales.

Third step. USP testing.

1. Divide your clients into groups randomly, sending different types of messages for each group.
2. Placement of contextual advertising based on various types unique selling proposition. The USP option becomes the main one, which helped to achieve maximum number responses.

3 conditions for creating a unique selling proposition

To form a unique selling proposition, three conditions must be taken into account:

The first condition is to emphasize the uniqueness of your product. Quite a difficult question for many. In particular, how to emphasize the uniqueness of a standard washing powder? But in reality, there are many characteristics of your product that can be noted, attracting the attention of the target audience - including:

1. Useful additional service. “Buyers of goods for any amount are provided free shipping in the city". Or jewelry stores offer to “enter each date into the database so that the buyer does not forget to congratulate his beloved.”
2. Polite and diligent staff. Probably, many have met such ads - “we will wash the car in 20 minutes or return your money”, “only polite and sober movers”.
3. Narrow specialization - "store of elite alcoholic beverages" or "rock karaoke bar".
4. Orientation of the company to a specific category of customers. "Toy store for girls".
5. Leading positions in the market. "The largest selection of automotive parts in town." At the same time, it is important that the statement in the USP is true - in order to avoid negative consequences for the company's reputation.
6. Elitism - for example, a commercial photographer in his USP may indicate "shooting in luxurious interiors with expensive items."
7. High result. "85 of our students are employed within 3 months."
8. Providing customers with guarantees. Including a refund or free service for a certain period. In any case, there will be returns, but for the most part they turn out to be isolated cases. If there is no way to keep this promise, it is better to change your unique selling proposition.
9. Ask what your customers need. In particular, you can think about a survey, or a study on finding the most interesting USP for the target audience is suitable.
10. The USP should not be directed at the users themselves, but at the decision makers.
11. Compare your services or products with competitors. For example, one of the washing powders gained its fame thanks to the motto "If there is no difference, then why pay more?".
12. Keep the cost to a negligible amount. For example, “advertising in our newspaper - 600 rubles. per month. Advertisements are published three times a week - 12 times a month. Therefore, one publication will cost only 50 rubles. 20,000 subscribers will be able to see this ad, so pay only 0.25 kopecks for each client.”
13. Express the cost in non-financial terms. In particular, one of the coupon services sends offers to its customers - “give your beloved a festive bouquet of roses, a romantic evening and two movie tickets for the price of a tank of gasoline.”

False unique selling propositions

1. Obvious promises. "If you do not like the product, we promise to return the money for the purchase within 14 days." But such a promise cannot be considered a unique selling proposition, because it is a mandatory requirement under the law "On the Protection of Consumer Rights".
2. Invented advantage. Among the most clear examples can be called " vegetable oil without cholesterol” (cholesterol can only be found in fats of animal origin) and “non-GMO salt”.
3. Opposition based on a play on words. "Smoke Cool - Avoid hot cigarettes." Cool cigarettes are opposed to other brands and allegedly differ in temperature characteristics. It's just that in the slogan the main emphasis is on the play on words ( English cool - "cool, cool").

The second condition is that the client must understand his own benefit. The properties specified in the unique selling proposition must meet the needs of the buyer. You need to clearly show what benefit the client will receive, noting other important qualities:

1. Saving washing powder. It rinses out easier, does not harm the skin.
2. More washes for the same price.
3. Compact sills are environmentally friendly, reducing environmental impact.

The complex of advantages, if not limited to only one benefit, allows you to interest a wider target audience - those who want to save money, those who care about the skin, and those who are worried about the environmental situation in the world.

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He speaks CEO

Evgeny Panteleev, General Director of the cosmetic association "Freedom", Moscow

Our company is launching a new line of cosmetic products this year. The USP includes the principle of the ratio of quality and price - the product is presented in the "mass-market" price category, and in terms of characteristics and composition, it is more reminiscent of the products of the world's leading brands. Let us consider in more detail how such a USP of our cosmetic products appeared.

The company celebrated its 170th anniversary in 2013, and in preparation for such a significant date, it decided to send employees to participate in the major French exhibition In-Cosmetics. There we managed to meet the heirs of the founder of our company, many hereditary perfumers. They introduced us to many representatives of French laboratories that specialize in new areas in the field of cosmetology, and helped us a lot in organizing negotiations. We were particularly interested in the developments of the Soliance laboratory - its representatives offered us exclusive conditions for the supply of a component with a unique rejuvenating effect (hyaluronic acid microsphere). The use of this component is already envisaged for leading cosmetic products, including in the range of the famous world brands YvesRocher, L'Oreal and Clarins.

In addition to the exclusive right to use this microsphere for our cosmetic line, we also managed to count on comprehensive methodological support from business partners from France. They assisted in the formation of new SKUs, the research center of our company also created its own recipes. This approach allowed us to provide the first USP - the high quality of our products. There were also additional arguments in favor of our line - the results of testing the quality of competitors' products, which we organized in scientific center. According to the results of the last study, it was possible to confirm that our product is not inferior in its properties to more expensive analogues.

The second component deserves special attention - the cost. In the matter of price, our USP has a certain “immunity”. Since we received an exclusive opportunity from the French developer to use his know-how - the hyaluronic acid microsphere. Therefore, it is unlikely that any of the Russian manufacturers will be able to compare with our prices, and foreign counterparts turn out to be much more expensive.

Alexey Pyrin, General Director, Artisifood, Moscow

We are engaged not only in production, but also in the sale of fish and seafood. We make the main bet in our activities on the b2b sector. As a rule, wholesale suppliers of food products do not have a well-known, recognizable brand, so it is really difficult to stand out from their competitors. They decided to take the factor of an extensive assortment as the basis for promoting their services. The vast majority of companies offer a little bit of everything, they cannot deliver rare products. We managed to significantly expand the range of our services - about 200 types of seafood and fish, while informing customers about various unusual products. Therefore, we managed to surpass our competitors in terms of USP margin by 8-10%.

The third condition is the significance of the promised benefit. We only have ten seconds to interest a potential client. Therefore, with a more significant problem that we propose to solve to the client, with the most understandable and accessible wording of your proposal, it will be possible to make it more recognizable and famous brand for potential clients. This rule is relevant almost everywhere - only complex equipment becomes an exception (as a rule, consumers analyze and compare characteristics in advance).

In the FMCG market, the most significant property should be determined, which will be fixed in the unique selling proposition and on the packaging. In particular, the pleasant aroma of the product can be noted on the packaging. This property over time, it began to be taken for granted, so we moved on to “effective stain removal”. The heroes of our commercials could get very dirty, but no amount of dirt could withstand the effects of a powerful powder. As a result, we managed to achieve sales growth of more than 5 times within five years.

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Is Your Product's Unique Selling Proposition Effective: Three Parameters to Check

Ilya Piskulin, Director of Love marketing agency, Moscow

Try, for example, creating an "antonym" for your unique selling proposition.

1. Your unique selling proposition cannot be used by competitors

If competitors repeat your offer, they will deceive the client. Somehow in my practice there was a case. One of our companies started producing windows with a ventilation system. A competing firm said their windows are also ventilated. We sent a mystery shopper to them and found that we are talking about valve ventilation, which works only at positive temperatures and is not installed in Russia. The company also knew about this and therefore immediately warned customers that it was not worth buying windows with ventilation. That is, the company attracted customers by the fact that it was not going to sell. Of course, the buyers were disappointed. There was no other competitor on the market who could repeat our USP and at the same time keep the promise.

USP examples. The restaurant is the only one in the area that cooks dishes on the grill or serves a business lunch in 20 minutes. The window manufacturing company is the only one among its kind that makes metal siding under a log. Production of road paint that glows in the dark. A development company can offer a lake on the territory of a holiday village or an already operating gas supply system in a new house.

If competitors repeat your offer, they will violate their positioning. Once I watched the death of a grill bar. At first, he positioned himself as an extreme bar, but unexpectedly announced that he was starting to hold children's matinees on Sundays. The regulars were at a loss, and new customers (young mothers with children) did not dare to go to an incomprehensible institution. It is important that the USP reflects exactly your positioning and does not suit your closest competitors.

USP examples. If BMW announced that it had produced the safest car, it would cause bewilderment of motorists (safety is a familiar attribute of Volvo). The announcement that the Chanson radio festival will take place in the Gipsy nightclub will also sound strange.

2. You can build a reverse USP without it being absurd.

Often, instead of USP, people say things for granted about high quality, excellent price and wide range. In my practice, there was a company that publicly declared that it had the most expensive apartments in the city. Sales were excellent (I note that this was before the crisis). At the same time, another company was operating on the market, which claimed to have the cheapest apartments. And they sold well too. Both USPs sounded good and worked. If the USP does not have a working "antonym", then it will not be very effective. So, in my practice there was a cottage village that sold the most large plots measured in hectares. Unfortunately, there was no company on the market that sold the smallest plots, for example, 10 acres, because no one needs them anymore. Sales were neither shaky nor fluctuating... You should not write in the advertisement of the club that it has great music (it is unlikely that there will be a club with terrible music) or emphasize in the advertisement of the restaurant that there tasty food and good service.

USP examples. In a restaurant ad, it’s better to write “located on the roof, away from the bustle of the city” instead of “located in a great place” (because you can say the opposite - “a restaurant in the very center of the city”, and this will also be a good USP).

3. You want to believe your USP

It happens that the USP is formulated either indistinctly, or incomprehensibly, or simply does not inspire confidence. We once promoted lymphatic drainage massage, which correct application able to create the effect of a slight weight loss immediately after the session. It turned out that people did not really believe in the slogan “weight loss in 1 hour”, in contrast to the slogan “weight loss in 1 day” (there were many times more clicks).

USP example. You should not promise “weight loss by 10 kilograms in 3 days”, indicate more realistic terms.

Offers like “the most interesting courses”, “the most useful webinars” have not caught on buyers for a long time. To attract your target audience on the Internet, you need to show what exactly you are better than others and why a person should contact you. Let's figure it out how to create a unique selling proposition that will hit the client in the heart!

What is a UTP?

American advertiser Rosser Reeves, author of the M&Ms slogan - "Melting in your mouth, not in your hands" - was sure that advertising should do only one thing - to sell. He formulated this idea in the book Reality in Advertising, which became a bestseller among marketers around the world. In it, he first outlined the concept of USP in order to forever rid buyers of meaningless words like “the best”, “best”, “outstanding”.

A unique selling proposition or USP is what customers will love about you, choosing you among many other companies. According to Reeves, a USP is an advertising message that articulates your main difference from your competitors and the main reason for buying a product from you. It is used on banners, in contextual advertising, in mailing lists or on product cards, as well as in the description of the store on the site.

A well-written USP makes it easy to sell, because the client immediately sees why the offer is right for him. A good USP avoids price competition and increases repeat purchases.

However, do not forget that if irons from your online store are constantly returned with breakdowns, then no USP will keep dissatisfied customers.

Algorithm for creating USP?

So you've decided to create a unique selling proposition to sell your products online. Where to begin?

Step 1. Analyze your strengths

For clarity, make a table and mark in it all the competitive characteristics that your company has: great experience work, price, qualified employees, etc. Write as many points as you can - indicate specific dates, numbers. Now cross out everything that your competitors have to offer. As a result, you will get a squeeze of unique benefits that only your company and your product can boast. Put them at the heart of your USP.

Analysis competitive environment will allow you to find your unique advantages - that's what you need to sell to potential customers.

You will gain a better understanding of your business if you simply answer these questions:

• What are we doing?
• What are our strengths?
• What are our weak points?
• How are we different from other companies?
• What do competitors say about themselves?
• Where are our growth areas, what else can be improved?

It is important to answer the questions as objectively as possible. Happened? Move on!

Step 2: Determine who you are working for

Imagine that you are going to a close friend's birthday party and decide to give him a sweater. How will you choose? You will choose the right size, remember his favorite color, do not forget that he loves thin woolen fabrics and thigh length. Knowing a person well, you will surely give him a really desired gift. Now imagine that you are congratulating a colleague with whom you work in different offices. It will be difficult to make a choice, because you are not familiar with his addictions.

A sincere understanding of who your client is will allow you to offer him exactly what he needs. Therefore, personalize the potential client as much as possible. To get started, answer these questions:

• Is this a man or a woman?
• What is the age of your buyer?
• What is he interested in?
• What pleases him?
• What worries?

Complete the list of questions with topics that are relevant to your business so that you have a holistic character in front of you.

Open courses in English? Then it is important for you to know how long the potential client has been studying the language and what is his level of Byron language proficiency.

You should end up with a description like this:

Our client is a housewife, mother of two who loves to cook and previously held a management position in a large company. She rests 2 times a year abroad, drives a luxury foreign car, is fond of yoga, and is allergic to cats.

The avatar will help to describe the client from three sides: based on the situation, focusing on the psychotype and belonging to the generation. So instead of a soulless target audience, a real person with peculiarities of perception, character and life circumstances will appear.

Now you know exactly who you are offering your product to.

ACCEL residents, founders of the "Happiness Is" School of Relations Ivan and Maria Lyashenko collected detailed feedback from their listeners and were able to draw up an accurate portrait of a potential client. So they managed to attract new students and make training materials more useful for a narrow audience.

Here is what the entrepreneurs themselves say about this: “We have significantly increased the share of educational content, reduced and made the selling part more understandable, and justified the pricing policy. We explain in detail why we offer this product and how it will help the needs of webinar attendees.”

Step 3: Tell us how you're willing to help

Swap places with your buyer. What do you pay attention to when choosing: price, guarantees, reliability, appearance? Would you personally buy what you are trying to sell?

Surely some of your potential customers for some reason go to competitors. Try to understand what they have, but you don't. Try to emphasize the strengths in your USP, work on "failing" places.

According to Vladimir Turman, an expert on the commercialization of innovations, in the USP it is worth talking about why you, as the owner, decided to start a business. He writes about this in his article “How to increase demand for your products without going to war with competitors”. It is likely that your problem, which you solved by starting a business, is also relevant for other people. The found solution should be emphasized in the USP.

Step 4: Formulate a USP

Now that you've studied your audience, their needs, and your competitors, it's time to formulate a USP.

To compose a not very creative, but working text, you can use the formula of copywriter John Carlton. Substitute the data of your company instead of spaces - and the USP is ready:

With _______ (service, product) we help ______ (target audience) solve ____ (problem) with __ (benefit).

For example: With online adult volleyball training, we will help all women over 18 learn how to play for the beach season.

The text of the USP can be approached more creatively. The main rule - write to the point. Common phrases, literary prettiness, approximate and generalized figures leave potential customers indifferent. Do you provide a 26% discount? Talk about exact numbers, not about "huge discounts" and "great deals."

Here are a few more important points worth paying attention to:

• Write simply as for a friend. Your offer should be clear from the first time. Leave abstruse phrases and specific terms for scientific works. The customer must understand what he is buying and why.
• Focus on your strengths. Mention in the USP something for which customers should want to come to you, and not to competitors. If your educational center employs doctors of sciences, you should not tell how convenient navigation on the site is for you - this way you will shift the focus of attention from the important to the secondary.
• Write short. Your goal is to interest a potential client in a minute. USP - a short message, from one to three sentences.

Use our cheat sheet in order not to forget anything:

• Who can benefit from this product/service?
• What will a person get by becoming your client?
• Why are you better than your competitors and why can't you buy an analogue of your product?

Mistakes in compiling USP

You can't lie about your unique selling proposition. If you promised a 50% discount and gave only 25%, the customer will feel cheated. You will lose your reputation, and with it your customers.

In addition, you should not include in the USP those benefits that the client receives by default, for example, the ability to return funds within 14 days (this is guaranteed by the Consumer Protection Law). Needless to say, that you have "professional masters of their craft." If this were not the case, would you be able to provide services?

Arguments must be validated real facts. It is not enough to say that your service has no analogues on the market - tell us what is unique in your business, give more specifics.

Conclusion: How to test the effectiveness of your USP

So, you have studied your advantages, competitors, introduced the target audience and prepared the basis of your sales - the USP text. Now check its viability - make sure:

• Your unique selling proposition cannot be used by competitors. They don't provide the same services, don't use the same materials, or can't compete on price. Only with you the client will be able to get these benefits.
• Your USP can be formulated in reverse. For example, an entrepreneur who sells "women's shoes in large sizes" may well imagine that there is a company that sells small shoes. Only such a USP is competitive. And here is an example of a bad USP: “In our club, only good music". It's hard to imagine that someone can offer customers bad music.
• Your USP does not look absurd. It is unlikely that customers will believe that in the X online school you can learn English in 1 hour.
• You have tested your USP on clients. Send by mail different variants suggestions and choose the one that gets the most responses.
• Make sure that your USP is the answer to the question: “Why, among all similar offers, do I choose this one?”.

Drafting a USP is a painstaking analytical work that will take time. But once you invest time in it, you will end up with long-term access to the hearts of your target audience.

Do you want to create your own online school, produce yourself or your expert? Register now for a free webinar and receive a step-by-step PDF plan for creating your online school using this

Do you want to create a killer USP and speed up your business?

As of 2013, there are about 10 billion brands registered in the world. And each of them wants you to be their client. Everyone is trying to sell something. How to remember them, how to distinguish between them?

Each of your potential customers faces such a problem. In every niche, whatever it is: selling car parts; production of building materials; beauty salons and hairdressers; private hospitals and so on and so forth, many different companies operate. And each offers identical or nearly identical goods or services. How to choose? How to distinguish? Who to contact? How to remember if you have almost decided?

Every company, no matter how big or small (especially!) needs to stand out from the competition. The logo and is only half the battle. You need to come up with some unique, special offer that will set you apart from the general background and help you shout to the client in the general noise.

Here's how to come up with and compose your unique selling proposition, or USP, and will be discussed in this article.

What is USP and how it is used in marketing and sales

A USP is a unique selling proposition. It implies some special characteristic of a brand or product, which is presented as an advantage or additional benefit for the client. USP is used by marketers when developing an advertising campaign - it is often built on this particular feature in order to distinguish a company from its own kind in the market.

This concept was introduced as such by the American advertising specialist Rosser Reeves. He developed this concept as an alternative to the eulogies in advertising, which ordinary consumers simply stopped believing. According to his concept, USP should:

• translate real benefits for the client;
• increase the loyalty of the target audience to;
• be unique, special, one of a kind on the market.

If you peep a feature from a competitor and present it with your own sauce, it will not be a strong USP. It will be just a stolen idea, an imitation.

It seems to have a unique selling proposition, but 9 out of 10 competitors have the same

The USP is the reason consumers should choose you. And every company needs it. Only those who launch a new, innovative, revolutionary product, which simply has no analogues, can do without a USP. In this case, this very product is a unique offer.

In all other cases, tune in or die, to paraphrase a classic.

Why business USP?

• to stand out from competitors;
• to win the appreciation of the target audience;
• to create strong promotional materials () and work out a marketing strategy;
• to make your product stand out from the crowd.

Distinguish between true and false USP. The real thing is the real unique characteristics of the product that no one else has on the market in this niche. It's what's in the product itself. False benefits are made-up benefits, in the absence of a true difference. This is what and how it is said about this product. And in most cases, entrepreneurs resort to such USPs. But what if you offer the same product and service as the rest? If you have not invented something unique, some kind of exclusive product, you have to turn your head on and think carefully about how you can hook customers.

Detachment from competitors is the key to the success of an advertising company. A unique offer should clearly indicate the benefits for customers, on which the message will be built, which will later be broadcast in advertising, on social networks and other promotional materials.

How to create a unique selling proposition

Many business owners think that writing a USP is easy. The two obvious paths they take are:

"We have the lowest prices!"

Price races are a dubious advantage for two reasons. First, there will always be someone who is cheaper. The second is that by low prices you attract the appropriate contingent of customers - insolvent and overly economical, to say the least.

"We have a quality service!"

In fact, the concept of quality is completely different for everyone. And you can not always guarantee this very service - the human factor plays a lot. But even if so, you really work in good conscience, it is this phrase “quality services”, “best service” that set the teeth on edge so that they simply fly past your ears.

If you are just starting out, yes, for quick sales you can still somehow beat these two trump cards as part of some kind of promotion. For example, the lowest price. But if you want to build a strong brand on long time- You need to take the development of the USP seriously.

In general, any unique selling proposition is built on three fundamental principles.

1. Advertising message must convey a specific benefit to the consumer. That's right, you need to submit a USP not in the light of your advantages, but in terms of benefits for the client. He is not so interested in Italian wallpaper in itself, as in the sight of his room, pasted over with this wallpaper. So sell him a beautiful repair, easy maintenance of wallpaper that is washable and does not fade, and not the wallpaper itself. But this is all of the above, he can get only by buying these very wallpapers from you.

Only if it is profitable to cooperate with you, customers will choose your company.

2. Customer benefit must be unique compared to other products similar to yours. Everything is clear here - this principle is embedded in the definition itself. Want to be different? Come up with something that your competitors don't have. Only by being different, only by offering something that no one else offers, can you be different from everyone else. As a result, your product will be chosen (if the benefit is well described) and remembered.

3. The benefit must be significant, that is, attractive enough so that the client can make a choice in favor of your product without much thought. Benefits must be reasoned, and not invented or sucked from the finger. That is why you should perfectly study your target audience, know your customers, their pains and based on this.

When you know what problems your customers have, you can offer them a solution in the form of this unique benefit.

Examples of compiling USP

You can often find USPs that absolutely do not play into the hands of the business: they are too general and do not attract attention.

How to create such an offer that will become the heart and engine of your business success?

1. Tell something that your competitors are silent about.

If there are hundreds of businesses like yours, it is very difficult to find something truly unique. But maybe there is something that your customers are simply silent about?

Such a case was in my practice. The company is engaged in the production of granite monuments. For clients, a service is offered “by default” - the development of a 3D model of a future product, and free of charge. Other companies also provide this service, but they are modestly silent about it. We did not become silent. The benefit of seeing a full-fledged three-dimensional image of the future monument works well for many of the company's clients.

And chewing gum, "Orbit", which is sugar-free? Read the composition of other similar rubber bands - it is identical. And no sugar too. But Orbit presents it as a USP.

2. Point out novelty or innovation

If you invented new way solve a customer's problem, or upgrade your product, or add some new ingredient to it - don't be silent. You need to do your USP, and quickly, before someone else does it before you.

Think of an advertisement for any new shampoo or cream. Either they came up with a new formula, then they added keratin, then some kind of l-lipids, which no one had heard anything about, but if you believe the advertisement, shampoo makes hair stronger. And the cream just smooths out wrinkles for one or two. All thanks to the INNOVATIVE formula. Get armed.

3. Formula John Carlton

Using this formula, it is very easy to make a USP, especially if you provide services. The formula is built like this:

The product ___ helps ___ to solve a problem ___ indicate the benefit.

For example:

The new cream will help women overcome the first wrinkles and look younger.