In 1961, the world was told of the concept of the ‘USP’ in the book ‘Reality in Advertising’. It explained that the Unique Selling Proposition was a benefit, unique to you, that will attract new customers.
Many changes have happened since then, to the original, in the form of new meanings and definitions. It has also been grossly misused. Many people misinterpret the USP to mean - why am I different ? Not the same question. I could be the thinnest NLP Practitioner in the world. It makes me unique, but it is not a benefit for my customers and is unlikely to be a reason why people would use my services.
Just being different is not the same as having a USP.
What is the essence of USP ? What is unique about my product / service that will attract new customers ? The journey taken, to reach a conclusion, is vital. Problem with the USP is that it channels your thinking in the wrong way. It prevents you from producing the most compelling offering available. In the end, it is the wrong question to be asking.
Any benefit, you introduce, that is unique to you and which will attract new customers, is likely to be copied. Quickly too. More true today, than ever before, because more and more businesses are providing similar products / services. There will always be copycat companies, able to clone your USP with ease.
Ask Yourself a Better Question
Unique Selling Proposition makes us ask :
What unique benefit can we promise that will attract new customers ?
Wrong Question.
The question we should be asking is :
Why am I uniquely placed to solve the problem ?
The difference between the questions - Every Purchase solves some problem.
We know what / which problems we solve for our customers. Asking ourselves why we are uniquely placed to solve these problems keeps us thinking the same way as our buyers do and about their motivations. This keeps us aligned with their concerns. In so doing, it is more likely that we will create an offering that is original and has substance.
The USP, only asks us to think in terms of benefits, without addressing buying motivations. Thinking abouit benefits does not force you to look at your product / service through your customer’s eyes. Result - less likely that you will come up with something truly compelling.
There is great danger in searching for a unique benefit that will attract new customers - focus is entirely one-dimensional. The focus is entirely on our product / service, never on our customer. Even if we create something worthwhile, it is still a one-dimensional view. So, more likely to be superficial, making it easier to copy. Poof !! Our uniqueness disappears !!
A better question would be ‘Why am I uniquely placed to solve the problem ?’ Asking this question encourages us not to look at our product / service one-dimensionally. It also forces us to also think of our customer. We then go beyond adding more benefits to start looking at other possibly productive areas.
I have a lot of graphic graphic designer companies in my office building. There is nothing unique about them. In fact, they are like every other graphic designer in town. Coming up with a USP in the traditional way is, not only difficult, but a steep climb. When they do find one, it can be used by one of the competitors. New avenues are opened up by asking the question - Why am I uniquely placed to solve the problem ? What if this graphic designing team members have an interest in trekking and even have their own group(s) for it. It is likely they understand and know more about trekking and the DOs and DON'Ts compared to many other graphics designer companies. The trekking locations may be withing a 50 km. radius, from where this company is based.
Now, the original business is starting to evolve. The experience in trekking, only works within a max. 100 km. radius. You may not uniquely placed to handle any trekking need, but if you are a looking at a trekking need within that 100 km. radius, you could be. Local presence and understanding of geography & terrain, creates a uniqueness to the graphics designing part.
Would it make any difference at all if the company deals in trekking or not ?
After all, graphic designing is graphic designing. Now think, if a trekking company wants to employ a graphic designer to do it's marketing, the trekking pcompany perceives this designing company, who understands trekking, even in a small way, better placed to help.
Solely exploring this area, may make the focus too narrow, too one-dimensional.
But asking this question encourages you to put together a good sales strategy. A strategy meant for a niche. The company is now an obvious solution provider, in this niche. It is assumed that the market place is big enough to sustain business.
This company does not have the bandwidth to build a brand or expertise in every sector, across the country. However, they can build a brand and expertise in certain areas of the market. As business develops and expands, they can slowly widen the market place within which they work. Once an initial focus is successful, there will always be market opportunities to grow.
This is workable and also easily implementable, with minimum resources being used. A Win-Win Strategy, for sure.
Pls share your views by sending an eMail to marketing@drsunilpevekar.com
Many changes have happened since then, to the original, in the form of new meanings and definitions. It has also been grossly misused. Many people misinterpret the USP to mean - why am I different ? Not the same question. I could be the thinnest NLP Practitioner in the world. It makes me unique, but it is not a benefit for my customers and is unlikely to be a reason why people would use my services.
Just being different is not the same as having a USP.
What is the essence of USP ? What is unique about my product / service that will attract new customers ? The journey taken, to reach a conclusion, is vital. Problem with the USP is that it channels your thinking in the wrong way. It prevents you from producing the most compelling offering available. In the end, it is the wrong question to be asking.
Any benefit, you introduce, that is unique to you and which will attract new customers, is likely to be copied. Quickly too. More true today, than ever before, because more and more businesses are providing similar products / services. There will always be copycat companies, able to clone your USP with ease.
Ask Yourself a Better Question
Unique Selling Proposition makes us ask :
What unique benefit can we promise that will attract new customers ?
Wrong Question.
The question we should be asking is :
Why am I uniquely placed to solve the problem ?
The difference between the questions - Every Purchase solves some problem.
We know what / which problems we solve for our customers. Asking ourselves why we are uniquely placed to solve these problems keeps us thinking the same way as our buyers do and about their motivations. This keeps us aligned with their concerns. In so doing, it is more likely that we will create an offering that is original and has substance.
The USP, only asks us to think in terms of benefits, without addressing buying motivations. Thinking abouit benefits does not force you to look at your product / service through your customer’s eyes. Result - less likely that you will come up with something truly compelling.
There is great danger in searching for a unique benefit that will attract new customers - focus is entirely one-dimensional. The focus is entirely on our product / service, never on our customer. Even if we create something worthwhile, it is still a one-dimensional view. So, more likely to be superficial, making it easier to copy. Poof !! Our uniqueness disappears !!
A better question would be ‘Why am I uniquely placed to solve the problem ?’ Asking this question encourages us not to look at our product / service one-dimensionally. It also forces us to also think of our customer. We then go beyond adding more benefits to start looking at other possibly productive areas.
I have a lot of graphic graphic designer companies in my office building. There is nothing unique about them. In fact, they are like every other graphic designer in town. Coming up with a USP in the traditional way is, not only difficult, but a steep climb. When they do find one, it can be used by one of the competitors. New avenues are opened up by asking the question - Why am I uniquely placed to solve the problem ? What if this graphic designing team members have an interest in trekking and even have their own group(s) for it. It is likely they understand and know more about trekking and the DOs and DON'Ts compared to many other graphics designer companies. The trekking locations may be withing a 50 km. radius, from where this company is based.
Now, the original business is starting to evolve. The experience in trekking, only works within a max. 100 km. radius. You may not uniquely placed to handle any trekking need, but if you are a looking at a trekking need within that 100 km. radius, you could be. Local presence and understanding of geography & terrain, creates a uniqueness to the graphics designing part.
Would it make any difference at all if the company deals in trekking or not ?
After all, graphic designing is graphic designing. Now think, if a trekking company wants to employ a graphic designer to do it's marketing, the trekking pcompany perceives this designing company, who understands trekking, even in a small way, better placed to help.
Solely exploring this area, may make the focus too narrow, too one-dimensional.
But asking this question encourages you to put together a good sales strategy. A strategy meant for a niche. The company is now an obvious solution provider, in this niche. It is assumed that the market place is big enough to sustain business.
This company does not have the bandwidth to build a brand or expertise in every sector, across the country. However, they can build a brand and expertise in certain areas of the market. As business develops and expands, they can slowly widen the market place within which they work. Once an initial focus is successful, there will always be market opportunities to grow.
This is workable and also easily implementable, with minimum resources being used. A Win-Win Strategy, for sure.
Pls share your views by sending an eMail to marketing@drsunilpevekar.com
Very well written sir.good strategy to call out and ask self, what's in the USP?
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