What is USP or how to turn your product into a #musthave product?

May 28, 2020
7 Min Read
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A unique selling proposition is quite a close concept with positioning. If positioning clearly shows what the customer needs to meet his needs, then USP complements this positioning with a key criterion, due to which your product meets this need.

The essence of creating USP is the search for insight

Insight is a hidden consumer need that a brand can satisfy. It is quite difficult to identify it, this is the moment when the consumer views the ad, in our case – this is the main page of the site, and says: “Yes, it’s about me.” Insidious statements “all men love football” or “do all mothers love children” are considered to be trite. The definition of insight is hidden in the subconscious desires of the consumer.

For example, if you sell new smartphones, it is unlikely that the list of all the characteristics of the device should be brought to the fore. Most likely, analog smartphones will offer all the same, so the price will be decisive here. Of course, you can dump, but constantly underestimating the price you steal your profits. So, going back to smartphones, how to determine its USP? If this is not an iPhone, where the name speaks for itself, then you need to choose the quality of the phone, which is likely to “bite”. What now qualitatively distinguishes one smartphone from another? This is a clear picture and camera. Considering the dynamic development of social networks, photos and videos play a key role in the phone. Therefore, of course, young people will want to add cool photos to their Instagram. Therefore here it is possible to formulate USP in such a key “New smartphone… – take pictures like a PRO”. If our target audience is an older category of people, then we can focus on the reliable and long operation of the device: “72 hours of reliable operation without recharging”. Luxury goods generally satisfy the main insight – it is a confirmation or demonstration of their status, even if functionally the product can lose to a cheaper counterpart.

It is possible to formulate the main slogan which reflects USP, by various methods

For example, the method of social proof. “A revolutionary weight loss program that the whole Internet is buzzing about.” Smart marketing always takes into account social evidence or people’s propensity to make their choices, justifying it by the fact that other people have already tried it.

Slogan-alarm

Often people are more motivated to take action to avoid a negative outcome than to benefit. Well-worded alarming USPs, such as the ones below, also promise that a potential customer will be able to protect themselves from a problem if they buy your product. For example, “no diet will help without our weight loss program”.

Slogan-promise

You show the result of using your product, preferably using quantitative or temporal parameters. “Revolutionary program for weight loss – minus 5 kg in 1 week without starvation.” You have caught the insight – the consumer wants to lose weight as quickly as possible, but without grueling diets. The problem is that your product really has to provide this. Otherwise, look for other “chips” that qualitatively distinguish you from competitors, but meet the same needs. Manipulate numbers, if it is important for you to specify how long the smartphone works without recharging, then 72 hours sounds more important than 3 days; and 1 week sounds more pleasant than 7 days for which you can lose weight.

Keep in mind that a well-formulated USP also contains a promise that if you buy a product, it will come true. If you confirm the USP with strong arguments, you will make it more effective by turning a statement of fact into a promise. For example, “Laser tattoo removal. 100% guarantee of the result “. Then you can shift the focus to the supporting facts, for example, “You pay for the service only once, despite the number of sessions required to achieve the desired result”.

But all this works only if your product is really high quality. If you promise more than you can offer and the product does not meet customer expectations – this, friends, swim for a short distance. Your product will disappear from the market as soon as it appears on it.

Finally, we offer more options for finding instates to create USP. For example, P&G once determined insight by the Kipling method. Before launching an advertising campaign for washing powder, the company surveyed mothers who were their TA.

  • P & G: Why do you buy washing powder?
  • Mom: Because I want the clothes to be clean.
  • P & G: Why do you want your clothes to be clean?
  • Mom: Because I want my child to look neat at school.
  • P & G: Why do you want your child to look neat at school?
  • Mom: Because other moms will see her, they’ll think I’m a good mom!

Since then, the company has used in its USP an emphasis on caring, tidy mothers and it is blooming to this day. To be a super mom it is enough to buy P & G washing powder.

Another method is “Try walking in my shoes”.

Remember Mel Gibson in What Women Want? He has personally tried products for women, this way you can understand how to improve a product or service. And already on the basis of this improvement, to form the USP. For example, if you sell hair removal products, it will be important to say “Painless hair removal without any irritation”, too frankly, but this is what consumers want when choosing such a product.

Yes, determining the USP is not so easy, but it is possible. Having learned about the hidden desires of your consumer, you can easily hit the ten ring.