Many so-called marketing gurus say you need a USP (Unique Selling Proposition) when promoting your products or services. This is a piece of marketing jargon which has crept into everyday language. For many it is a difficult concept to grasp.

The phrase was coined from 1940’s research into successful advertising campaigns. The basic idea is to come up with a few words (a phrase) which suggests to the customer that if they buy this product they will receive this specific benefit. It is unique to your product; something the competitors do not offer. It must say something strong enough to attract attention and pull new customers. Sometimes it uses phrases like ‘the only…..’ or ‘the first people to ….’

However, USPs are often extremely difficult to find. And as soon as one company establishes a successful USP in a market, competitors rush to copy it. A company’s USP has to be relevant to the target customer. Which suggests that they may have several USPs. It is also difficult to differentiate between a USP and an advertising strap line. Famous examples include ‘not knowingly undersold’ and ‘the real thing’. As far as possible a USP should be  incorporated in a promotional headline and in the early body copy.

It may seem obvious to say so but a USP is not a USP when it is irrelevant to the product or  when there is no competition. As soon as it is copied by competitors it is no longer unique. For example, say you are the first to offer a money back guarantee – this is a strong USP until competitors losing business to you do the same. And if you cannot deliver what you claim in the USP it is false and can have a serious effect on your business.

Use these 5 steps to create your USP

Step 1   List all the main features of your product or service
Use brainstorming and talk to sales people and customers to produce the lis and classify by quality, service, delivery, price, and other characteristics

Step 2    Convert features to benefits using ‘means that’
                e.g.Next day delivery means you have less printer down time

Step 3     Rank the benefits
                 Go back to the brainstorming groups

Step 4      Classify benefits – standard or different