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Unique Selling Proposition (USP): examples of how to create and what it is. How to draw up a USP? Rules for creating a unique offer

Marketer Andrey Zinkevich - on how to effectively detach from competitors

If you open any good marketing book or attend training, you are 99% likely to come across the term unique selling proposition. Why do all marketers talk about the importance of USP? It would seem that the answer is obvious: show a potential customer the differences between the product and the benefits of using it, and he will make a purchase. But here is the main pitfall: how to identify those unique differences and how to present them in the form of benefits? What if your product or service is no different from the competition? Well-known marketer Andrey Zinkevich told about how to formulate the USP.

Andrey Zinkevich, entrepreneur, marketing consultant. Founder of the project ... The geography of clients includes 9 countries of the world. Over eight years of sales and marketing experience with Kimberly Clark and Biosphere Corporation. The author of the books "Customer conveyor », « Secrets of customer focus" and " Profitable internet projects ».

History of the issue

Reeves was one of the brightest students of the famous Claude Hopkins and was an adherent of the "selling" style. He believed that advertising can only have one purpose - sales. Not loyalty, not recognition, not popularization and other terms so beloved by advertisers, but sales!

In his book, Reeves emphasized that the effectiveness of advertising (read, sales) depends on one factor: advertising must instantly grab the attention of a potential client with one, but very strong offer that competitors cannot make; a proposal that will encourage the recipient of the advertisement to perform the targeted action.

This idea formed the concept that Reeves called "unique selling proposition." True, today Reeves' concept is overgrown with implausible myths; one of them - now the competition is much stronger and it is almost impossible to find differences between competitive products.

Is it really? Of course not. Look at most of the well-known brands or companies, they all have a unique selling point and stand out from it.

Let's try to figure out how to highlight the distinctive qualities of your products and services and turn them into USP.

Step-by-step instructions for creating a unique selling proposition

The first step is to define the characteristics that are most important for customers in our products.

The first step in preparing a unique selling proposition is the selection of product characteristics or criteria that influence the customer's decision.

This step is the most important (although it is often simply skipped), since the fate of the USP depends on the characteristics chosen: will it really show the benefits of your product or will equal you “with the rest”.

Therefore, our task at the first stage is to analyze our products or services and determine the ten most important characteristics for customers in each of them. The best way to do this is to interview existing customers what product characteristics are most important to them and what criteria / factors influence their purchasing decision.

If the customer base is too large, then it is advisable to sample the most loyal or most profitable customers and interview them.

If you are launching a new product and there are no customers yet, then you can brainstorm and independently determine the characteristics that are most important to the client. Or interview those who are most likely to buy your product.

After real customers appear, you can repeat the analysis and select characteristics based on real data.

All received answers from respondents you need to enter in a separate file.

Step two - we filter and rank the received data.

After feedback from customers is received or brainstorming, our task is to select the 10 most important characteristics for the customer and rank them in order of importance.

This is not difficult to do. Among all the responses received, we need to select the most recurring ones. The characteristic with the most repetitions will top your list, the rest will be positioned below it in the same way. As a result, we should get something like the following table (for example, we will mean a hypothetical online store):

Why do I recommend limiting yourself to 10 characteristics? A larger number can simply confuse you and make analysis difficult. In most cases, you will notice that the most important characteristics for the client will be no more than 5-7.

Step three - compare ourselves to the three main competitors.

The next step is to compare the characteristics of your product with three competitive ones. Conducting such an analysis, you must be as objective as possible: if you are inferior in something to a competitor, be sure to note it.

I recommend that you rate each feature or criterion you choose on a 10-point scale for your product and for each of your competitors. For example, in the previous table, we determined that the most important factor for a customer is delivery within a day. If we can deliver the product within a few hours after ordering, we can give a rating of 10, if not, we lower the rating. Next, we analyze competitors and note how quickly they are able to arrange delivery. The longer the delivery time, the worse the score for this criterion will be.

Step 4 - choose the criteria for the USP: where are we stronger.

Having carried out such an analysis, we get a clear picture: by what characteristics or criteria that are important for the client we are superior to competitors, and in what we are objectively inferior. The criteria by which we dominate and should form the basis of our USP.

Key rule: for each service, product or company as a whole, a separate unique selling proposition is created!

Auxiliary formulas for creating USP

Now let's see how you can formulate a unique selling proposition based on the selected characteristics. I suggest using one of three formulas.

Formula one: need + result + guarantees. Using this formula, we guarantee the potential client that we can better than others satisfy his need. Here is an example of a USP based on this formula for our hypothetical online store: "We will deliver your order within a day or refund your money!"

This formula is used by my partner Ilya Rabchenok, the general director of the SMOpro studio, to create a USP at his service. This is how the unique selling proposition for the service “Attracting subscribers to the group on Vkontakte” and “Odnoklassniki” looks like: "We are guaranteed to attract 1000 target subscribers within the first month according to the parameters you specified, or we will return the money!"

Formula two: important criterion / characteristic + need. The second formula is based on a combination of characteristics that are important to a potential client and his needs. Some banks use a good example for such USP:

"We will issue a loan in 5 minutes without a certificate of income." Loan processing is a need of the target audience. The absence of the need to provide a certificate of income and the speed of issuing a loan are important criteria for a potential client that influence his decision.

Formula three: target audience + need + solution... Well-known business coach Alex Levitas likes to use this formula. For himself as a consultant, he uses the following unique selling proposition: “I - Alexander Levitas - help small and medium-sized business owners to increase their bottom line with the help of low-budget and free marketing moves” ... In the USP of Alex, the target audience is the owners of small and medium-sized businesses. Their need is to increase net profit. Alex's solution is to use low-budget and free marketing tools (read, using guerrilla marketing tools).

False Unique Selling Suggestions

I would also like to mention false USPs. This, unfortunately, is the fault of many entrepreneurs and marketers.

What is a fake USP? This is a proposal based on the twisting of facts or the use of criteria in the USP that the potential client expects by default.

For example, a dental clinic cannot use the characteristic “professionalism of doctors” as a USP. Why? Because, by default, a potential client expects you to have professional doctors. Otherwise, why would he even contact you?

Second example: using a 14-day money back guarantee as a USP. According to the law "On the protection of consumer rights", the buyer already has the full right to return the product within 14 days from the date of purchase. Therefore, there is a misrepresentation of facts.

Test questions for checking the USP

After you have worked with the comparative characteristics template and put together a unique selling proposition, one question remains: how “working” is it? Isn't it false?

You can check yourself with the help of a question (your USP should answer it): "Why should I choose your product or service among all the offers available to me?"

The second option is to formulate your USP in the form of a phrase: "Unlike others, we ...".

If there are good answers to both security questions, then you have truly created a unique selling proposition.

The phrase unique selling proposition or briefly USP occurs quite often in advertising and marketing. And with all the clarity of the words, not all companies were able to form a USP and use it to promote their goods. It seems to most people that all good ideas are already being used by someone and it is almost impossible to come up with something new.

What is USP

Unique selling proposition from the English. unique selling proposition (the abbreviation USP is often used) is a concept according to which advertising and product promotion must be based on certain unique properties of the product that are understandable to the consumer and bring him benefits. USP is, first of all, distinguishing your product from all competitors. The word "unique" implies non-repeatable competitors. Unlike classic showcase advertising, which was opposed to the USP strategy, your product should be associated, recognized and unified by the client precisely with the benefits described in the USP.

In many products, especially complex ones, there are a lot of properties and benefits, and many are unique to a certain extent. The USP concept says that it is worth 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 its promotion.

The manufacturer likes to patent and use the same developments in advertising under different names. So, for example, one of the manufacturers of washing machines began to promote the “easy ironing” function. In fact, this is just a normal delicate wash cycle, but this marketing trick worked fantastic 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.

People often think that a USP needs some kind of unique product or service. In fact, it is much more important to be able to highlight the unique properties in the product and correctly present them to the client. There are a lot of examples, see how social media spread. Instagram network. It was founded in 2010, when the market was already more than saturated. Having made a bet on a rather narrow niche at that time - online publishing of photos, social. the network was able to stand out, attract attention and, as a result, outstrip many competitors.

Rosser Reeves was the first to talk about the USP concept. In 1961, in his book Reality in Advertising, he talked about the rationalistic approach to sales. Advertising, according to this approach, should focus on certain unique properties of a product or service that bring clear, tangible benefits to the client.

Three principles of USP

3 basic principles were formed that must be followed to form a unique selling proposition:

Advertise a benefit that is important to the client;
The benefit must be unique, that is, absent from competitors;
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 generate interest, surprise and interest (read the article). These are important parameters for attracting the customer's attention to a product or service.

Of course, when you were able to attract the attention of the client, he will begin to evaluate 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 USP

So, you have your product, for example, you deliver water for offices. There are a great many 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, delivery on the day of order, you can accept money in cash, include water for the rich in your assortment, order pizza once a month as a regular customer, etc. Standing out from the crowd is much easier than it seems at first glance.

USP! USP! USP! It sounds like a curse if you don't know what it is. And in fact, this is a very useful topic in business. For use in marketing, advertising and sales. It helps the company to stand out from the competitors, I would even say to some extent wipe their nose with them. But first things first, otherwise it seems simple at first glance. It's much more complicated than you think, and even more rewarding than you imagine.

Stop swearing

Americans will definitely think that USP is a Russian curse, because we have a lot of such short and bad words. But I don’t want you to think the same way, so I’ll answer your dumb question what is utp. In fact, it stands for Unique Selling Proposition.

The definition of this term looks like this - this is your unique difference from another company or other products by which a client can distinguish you and say: “Wow, this is a proposal!”.

Such an emotion is, of course, difficult to achieve, but nothing is impossible.

Gentlemen, we will not delve into the theory for a long time. All you need to know about Unique Selling Proposals is that they set companies apart from the crowd. And to quickly understand whether you have it or not, just answer one of the questions right now:

How are you different from other companies / products?
Why should I choose your company / product?

Usually at this moment there is a short, 5-second pause, after which, as a rule, the options known to everyone follow:

High quality;
Good service;
Flexible conditions,

And my favorite is the individual approach. Don't tell me that you answered the same ?! I beg you! After all, it is fatal if your sales specialists and you, among other things, answer your customers like this. Because thousands of other companies around the world answer them that way.

How to choose in this case? Who are the best on the market? That's right, purely only according to where I liked it more for some subjective feelings. This, of course, is also good. True, in this case it is impossible to speak about the systemic growth of the company.

We have decided that you urgently need to read this article further, since your answers should be in business by default. It's the same if the restaurant writes: “We have the most delicious food”, it seems that in all other establishments the waiters say: “Gentlemen, our food is not very tasty, but what music, what kind of music!”. Badly! Badly! Bad ... Well, you already figured it out without me.

WE ARE ALREADY MORE THAN 45,000 people.
TURN ON

The difference between UTP and positioning and promotions

I have two important thoughts for you to dot the i.

USP is not an ACTION
USP is not positioning

Let's analyze it more thoroughly so that there will be no confusion in the future. Since in the vastness of the Internet everyone gives examples of upps and does not understand that this is more a positioning or an action than our "hero of the occasion."

Further action, this, of course, is also your difference, only it is temporary, not permanent. Therefore, it cannot be said that your unique difference is that you give the second thing when you buy. Any other company can do this in a matter of seconds. And even more so, when the promotion is over, you will be left with nothing.

In other words, USP (like positioning) can always be used in, on the clothes of employees, on billboards and other media, and in any kind of advertising message and it does not lose its relevance. A special offer (offer) cannot always be used, since it has the principle of burnout and replacement for another.

Positioning is a more global topic. This is not necessarily your difference, but rather your place in the market, which should not always distinguish you, but at the same time should characterize. My favorite and most understandable example is a Volvo car, their positioning is “Safety”. Is this the difference? Of course not. This is their emphasis. But a unique difference for them may be a car, for example, with 8 wheels.

How to Create a Unique Selling Proposition

Now you probably have chaos in your head with thoughts like “How to create a unique selling proposition? How to come up with, how to make, how to arrange it ?! ”.

I will reassure you a little that the creation of upp has certain principles. Therefore, I want to warn you about several important nuances that will help formulate an armor-piercing proposal:

You need to know your company and your product VERY well to make a really good offer. Therefore, drawing up an appointment with new employees is not a good idea. Although some of the newcomers should be, so to speak, a fresh look.
You need to know yours VERY well, because ideally, the formation of the UTP should, first of all, be based on the criteria for choosing a client, those that are really important to them.

So you have mastered the general theory. Now you will not be afraid of developing a unique selling proposition. To help you, the instructions for drawing up and formulas are presented below.

1. Creative

The solution is partly the simplest and yet, in my opinion, not the best option. Due to the fact that your creative donkey in the minds of consumers and is perceived as “true”, you need to invest more than one hundred thousand rubles in advertising. Rather, you need to calculate the total in millions. Do you need it?

Formula: [Creativity Feature] + [Product]

Example:
Chocolate that melts in your mouth, not in your hands.

2. Most

Choose what you have the most in the company and trumpet about it all over the world. In any case, there will always be someone who will do better, but while doing it, time will pass, and perhaps more than one year.

Also, be careful, the word “SAMOE” cannot be used in direct spelling under the law of the Russian Federation on advertising. But to get around this nuance, you can use tricks as in the examples.

Formula: [Most ____] + [Product]

Example:
The largest mug of coffee to go in a coffee shop ___ - 1 liter!
The largest guarantee for timing belts in the Moscow region * (according to 1000 respondents on the website ____.ru).

3. Without

You need to know your customers well. Blah blah blah ... I know everyone is trumpeting about it. But if you do not know the client, then you will not know what he is afraid of or what he fears. This means that you cannot make the following formula, which is based on the fear of the client.

Formula: [Product] + without + [customer fear]

Example:
Dishwashing liquid without chemicals.
Losing weight without going to the gym.
Roof construction without prepayment.

4.C

The same idea as in the third paragraph, only we say that our product has a mind-boggling value that they just need. Again, we focus on what is important for the client.

Formula: [Product] + s + [additional value]

Example:
Cream with a complex of vitamins E.
Air conditioner with the ability to work in winter.

5. How / For

Personally, I don’t really like this option, it’s some kind of rustic or something, but still in some areas it is quite appropriate (canteens, district shops). And I would rather refer this formula to positioning than to a unique proposal, it is too vague. But I'll tell you all the same.

Formula: [Product / company] + how / for + [positive emotions]

Example:
The food is at home.
Shop for the little ones.

6. Property

Relevant for those who have a technical feature that sets you apart from others, which shows your scale or level. By the way, the first example influenced my decision to go to that particular clinic. After all, as a layman, I believed that the more powerful the X-ray machine, the clearer the picture will be. But I did not pay attention to the fact that the specialist who makes this X-ray is much more important.

Formula: [Product / company] + from / from / to / to / from + [property]

Example:
Clinic with a 3 Tesla magnetic resonance imager.
All shovels are made of pure titanium.

7. The only one

If your product is one for a city, region, or even better for Russia, then it is also worth trumpeting about it. Again, the minus is that it is not permanent. Although, unless you are an official representative and you have exclusive rights to use your product.

Formula: [Single] + [product / company] + [difference] + in [geography]

Example:
The only company providing a 5-year warranty for timing belts in Russia.
The only transforming chairs in Moscow.

8. Hidden procedures

In any business, there are topics that everyone does by default and do not talk about it. You just need to show it and serve it with the right sauce. And for this you need what? Remember? Know your product and your company very well. People who work in it, equipment, processes, tools, raw materials, supplier of raw materials and everything in this spirit.

Formula: [Product] + [hidden procedure]

Example:
Three degrees of glass hardening.
Non-flammable PVC tiles.

9. Warranty

Just tell the client that he will get the desired result, otherwise, you will return the money, redo it for free or make a gift. Especially often this USP can be seen at info-businessmen. Although it can be used in any other business, for example, in construction, you can give a guarantee for meeting deadlines.

Formula: [If _____] + [then ____]

Example:
If there is an increase in the estimate, then the additional costs will be at our expense.
If you don’t like it, we will return all the money.

10. Professional

The development of this type of UTP is the most difficult, although it is done according to a very simple scheme. You need to fully know and, most importantly, understand the client. Moreover, I personally believe that this is the best formula. It can be said to summarize all previously studied and is based on the client's benefit, on his selection criteria.

Formula: [Product] + [Benefit]

Example:
Ferrari cars are only assembled by hand.
Pizza in 40 minutes or free.
Apartments with layouts to order.

How to check know-how

After creation, it seems that the best and not come up with that this is the 8th wonder of the world. I am in no hurry to break your hopes, perhaps you are really right and have come up with something that will bring the whole market to its knees. This may well be, because, as practice shows, all brilliant ideas come when you are busy with not what you need.

And to be sure of this, go through the list of questions below and check your hypothesis against reality.

Can the same be said about your competitors?

If you say that you make products in 24 hours, when your competitors do it in the same time, then this is not a great offer, it is just a statement of fact.
Is it important to the client / offending the client?

You can put pressure on creativity, but for me this is only for large companies, rather large ones. In the best case, you need to put pressure on the criteria of the client or on his emotions, and it does not matter whether it is positive or negative. If your message does not affect the client, then you need to change the situation.
Do you want to believe your difference?

If you can really show customers how to make a million in 5 minutes, then this is an insanely great offer. Only now it is not at all believable. Therefore, it would be better to replace it with a term “in 7 days”, which will inspire more confidence.
How long will your USP last?

Utp is the “eternal” distinction, and the action is temporary. Therefore, it is very important that it does not happen that you notify everyone that you are now not like everyone else, and after 2 days your competitor repeats this and a paradox occurs.
Does your sentence fit into 3-8 words?

Conciseness, lightness - this is the key to success. The shorter your offer, the better, the easier it fits in the minds of clients and it is easier for them to remember it, and therefore use it in relation to you.
Does your USP have a logical downside?

If you say, “We have the largest houses,” then that’s good, if only another company on the market can make the opposite offer “We have the smallest houses”. Otherwise, for example, in the premium segment, where everyone should have large houses by default, your offer will fail.

Briefly about the main

I would like to write that the time has passed when it was possible to do just “good” and people would have walked in droves. But this is not so, those who show impressive results in their work will always differ. But here's one misfortune, if the company is not big, and even more so new, then for the first time it is necessary to be different in order to break out of the rat race.

Now you have received a detailed answer and you know how to create a unique selling proposition. At the same time, if you think that you can come up with an upp and retire once, then you are deeply mistaken. Competitors are on the alert. The most arrogant copy your know-how, the less arrogant improve. And in this, too, there is a certain strategy for creating your own distinction.

That's all for me, the game has begun, I'm waiting for an answer in the comments to the question "How are you different from others?"

P.S. And to study this topic in other words and partially with different thoughts, then watch this video:

When you meet some USP, it breaks out: "Oops!".

Typical, no benefits, lackluster, too general.

But it is a unique selling proposition that is the heart of any business. This is what the entire marketing strategy revolves around, which helps to profitably detach from competitors and take its share of the market.

Let's assume that the USP is a core surrounded by hot marketing magma. It moves, mixing, positioning, characteristics of the target audience, competitive information, the advantages of a product or service, as well as the business objectives of the company.

If the core is weak, then the magma spreads, smearing the outlines of the company throughout the sales market. And sooner or later the boundaries of business are erased, and then they disappear altogether.

Here's a metaphor. And it's easier to say this: a strong USP = a strong company.

John Carlton, in one of his speeches, says that in search of "The same USP" more than one sleepless night may go away. But the end result should be something special, so that your business will take its place in the mind of the buyer.

To help you in this difficult task, we have collected 8 scenarios, using which you will create your competitive offer without much loss of time and nerve cells.

Scenario number 1. Unique characteristic

If there are a lot of analogues of your business on the market, then try to find some unique difference. Either find or create.

How marketers of TM "Twix" did in this situation: they divided an ordinary chocolate-waffle bar into two sticks. And the whole communication strategy was built on this.

Scenario No. 2. What remained outside the competitors' spotlight

It is very difficult to come up with something original in a classic business. Then it's worth looking for what your competitors are overlooking.

For example, Claude Hopkins once noticed that toothpaste not only cleans teeth, but also removes unpleasant plaque (film). This is how the slogan was born "Gets Rid of Film on Teeth".

And even when developing a USP for a beer brand, he noticed that at the factory the bottles are not just washed, but poured over with a powerful jet of steam. Mr. Hopkins has brought this workflow (which, in fact, all beer producers use) into the concept - "Our Bottles Are Washed With Live Steam!"

Of course, here you need to plunge headlong into all areas of business: from production to the work of secretaries and delivery services.

By the way, you probably remember the classic example of Domino Pizza delivery. It sounds like this: “Delivery in 30 minutes. If we are late - pizza for free ".

In this scenario, there is a little military trick: the business owner often gets blurry, and an experienced copywriter with the makings of a detective Megre is able to pull a hot and straightforward USP out into the open.

Scenario # 3. John Carlton's Formula

The formula is perfect for a service business. You don't even need to come up with anything revolutionary or creative. Substitute your data and get a working USP.

"With the help of ________ (service, product), we help ________ (ts) solve ______ (problem) with ____ (benefit)."

The options are:

With the "Slimming" course, we will help women put on their favorite bikini by summer.
Training "Yourself a copywriter" will help businessmen save hundreds of dollars on freelance services.
The Mary Poppins service will help mothers to go to the gym, go to the cinema and go shopping while the baby is under the supervision of an experienced nanny.

The examples are not perfect, but they demonstrate the very principle of working with Carlton's formula. The main thing is that we explain to the target audience what benefit our product or service brings.

Scenario No. 4. Innovation

If the product solves the buyer's problems in a completely new way, then this must be stated in the USP. AND "…do not be shy"- as Ivan Dorn sings in his hit.

What could it be:

innovative formula;
new product;
new packaging;
new format of interaction with the buyer;
revolutionary delivery method;
etc...

Innovation! The first 3 in 1 roll-on gel Nivea Q10 against wrinkles, dark circles and puffiness.
Vicks - We have combined healing ingredients and the mild flavor of lemon tea to relieve 6 common cold symptoms.

Scenario # 5. USP with a problem

You can bring the problem of your audience into a unique selling proposition. Those. go not from the description of the service, but from the solution of a complex problem of a potential buyer.

Tooth aches? Nebolin ointment will relieve pain in 5 minutes.
Bad mood? Invite a friend over for coffee at McDonald's.
Confused about finding cheap flights? Check out our offers from 183 airlines.

An example of a TV spot:

— Have a cold? Flu? With Aflubin tablets, a tangible improvement in health occurs much faster. (Translated from Ukrainian).

Scenario No. 6. USP with a bow

This is what we call any advantage that is associated with gifts, bonuses, discounts, guarantees and other consumer "snacks".

Samsung phones are guaranteed for 5 years. Order a dessert, get a free coffee.
Buy 2 pizzas, the third for free.
Place an order for 1000 rubles and our taxi will take you home for free.

This is a successful scenario for a unique proposition, but such a USP is unlikely to work equally well over time. Use this formula for seasonal promotions.