-What is a Unique Selling Position?
-The Over communicated society
-We filter out the messages
-Every business category does pretty much the same things
-How to make the same businesses different
The obvious USPs.
What are the difference between you and competition?
Express your message in different ways
What a Unique Selling Position is: A USP is a way to make a product or a business different from their competition. It will make the public remember you, allow you to dominate market share, and give consumers a clear choice between you and your competition.
Ladders in the mind: Because there are so many products and businesses in the market, people have to have a way to organize them into orders. They create “ladders� in their minds. With any product or business people perceive them as the leader, or second or third in a category. The top rung of the ladder is the leader, followed by the next, and then the third.
Example: Hertz is first, Avis is second, (we try harder), and nationwide is third. It doesn’t matter who is really first. It only matters what the perception of the publics is.
A business or product must pick something it can be first in, on the top of the ladder in a category. That is what a USP is all about.
The big problem all advertising agencies face as well as all marketers large and small, is to get there message into the head of the consumer, and to get them to remember the message and act on it sometime in the future.
Example: Toothpaste example shows the difference…toothpaste #1 whitens teeth, #2 fights cavities, #3 freshens breath. Each is unique and different from the others.
Over communicated society: We are bombarded by thousands of different kinds of messages every day. TV, radio, magazines, Internet, billboards, business signs, your calendar, book titles in your book case, and even the logos on your computer monitor and keyboard.
Our brain filters out the messages: If we didn’t filter out most of the messages we would go crazy. I know a man who has a condition which prevents the filtering out of messages and he has to fight them every second of the day. It’s like a hundred people shouting different things into his ears all at the same time.
Try this experiment- the next time you are watching TV with another person, when the commercial break is over ask them to name all the products or services being sold during that time. Beer ads are entertaining but does the viewer remember if the commercial is for Bud Lite, or Miller Lite? The average commercial break has eight commercial.
Short messages are best, short UPS gets into the customer’s head.
-The Lord’s Prayer has just 56 words
-Gettysburg Address has just 266 words
-Ten Commandments has just 297 words
-Declaration of I dependence has just 300 words
-A federal government’s description of the setting of prices for cabbage has 6,756 words.
Example:
The Uncola – 7 Up
We Try Harder – Hertz
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Every business category does pretty much the same thing – pick any business category in the yellow pages such as insurance, dentists, carpet cleaners etc. Look over the information in each ad.
Example: Dentists all do cosmetic work, whiten teeth, 20 something years experience, family practice, on and on.
Example: Tire stores sell tires, provide free flat repair, free rotation, guaranteed road hazard replacement etc. Some may also offer light mechanical work.
How to make your business stand out from the others – if all businesses in any category are basically the same, how do you make yours stand out?
Real Examples:
-Tuff Shed
-Three Day Kitchen and Bath
-Your Printing on Time Every Time or it’s Free
-Quilting Queen
The obvious USPs – Here are a few of the obvious USPs to consider.
1. Your business or product is:
2. Made better than competition
3. Can make it and deliver it quicker
4. Sell cheaper
5. Best customer service
6. Best distribution
7. Best warrantees
8. Best product
9. Exclusive product or business.
USPs that can be made:
1. What you do best – like quilt 1000 shades
2. Be first or the best in some category – chiropractor open at night
3. Create a difference – clock maker, custom made
4. Reposition the competition – Tynaol vs. aspirin, all our products are made here in Utah.
5. Solve an industry problem – Three day Kitchen and Bath, Maasai Printing.
6. Specialize in something – specializing in wisdom teeth treatment.
Most businesses in a category do pretty much the same things.
Dentists: cosmetic, cavities whiten teeth, 24 hr emergency, family practice, sealing teeth, free whiting.
How to make them different – Pick one of the things he does and be the best at that.
Example:
Dr. Smith, the Beautiful smile Dentist.
Dr. Smith: specializing in Children’s dentistry
Painless dentistry Â
Tire store: sell wheels, auto tires, truck tires, free rotation, free road hazard, free flat repair, front end work, light repair, manufacturer’s guarantee.
Example:
Smith Goodyear with bumper to bumper service
Smith Goodyear, the safety experts
Insurance: sells property and casualty insurance, general liability, SUVs, boats, etc. Earth quake, flood, health ins, disability.
Example:
Smith Insurance, one stop insurance shopping
Smith insurance specializing in SR 5 high risk drivers
Carpet cleaners: clean carpets and furniture, remove stains, special prices, special spot resistance application
Example:
Your satisfaction guaranteed or you don’t pay
Not just a carpet cleaner…this is a weak one because it says what they are not rather than what they are.
Chiropractors: back pain, headaches, auto accidents, worker’s comp claims, take all insurance, variety services
Smith Chiropractic, the night time pain doctor
Smith Chiropractic, the headache specialists
Smith Chiropractic, specializing in senior citizens
Express your message in different ways:
Goodyear store with bumper to Bumper Service can feature a different service they do in different ads, example: front end alignment, tune ups, air conditioning servicing etc.
Tuff Shed – drive a truck onto a shed, drive a truck onto a metal shed and it collapses, drop a Tuff shed from a crane and no damage, etc.
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