What is a Unique Selling Proposition? How Can it Help You Scale? Plus 5 Examples

A market is a competitive place, and every business will have competitors. A USP is something only that you can offer, a signature feature that keeps your competitors behind you in the market dominion race.

In layman’s terms a USP or Unique selling proposition is the Ace in your sleeves that will help you get a firm grasp in the hearts of customers and the market.

Every ambitious company will need a USP that separates them from the herd. For that, you need all the details you need to know about USP. Don’t worry; we got you!

Take a look at this detailed explanation of USP.

What is Unique Selling Propostion?

Unique selling proposition or USP, or commonly known in the marketing world as a unique selling point, is a unique product or a feature you offer.

Let’s look at this simple but powerful concept in detail.

In this highly competitive world, selling your product is secondary; the primary concern is selling yourself on it.

Things would be simple if you have a one-of-a-kind product, but those are so rare. Type a keyword in your app store, and you’ll see that finding a unique app is like finding a purple carrot.

Due to this fierce competition in the market, a strong USP will be a game-changer for you. Find that special something in your business and use that robust and unique selling proposition to sell your brand to prospective customers. This is the fundamental ideology behind a USP.

Why is it important?

If you are a business owner and want to make a successful business USP is essential.
Every product is a solution to a problem; the value you offer through your product makes you stand out in the marketplace. You have something your competitors lack, and that will attract more customers to your business.

Here are the types of research methods that help you join the list of successful businesses.

With a plethora of options available for the people, mostly they are confused to select the right one for themselves. The above point of standing out from the crowd will really help them choose easily.

Take the case of online stores.  There are many stores to choose from, but Amazon has their own place in the market; their USP is customer service and innovation, and they stick to it.

For emerging startups or small businesses, having a USP will communicate its mission to the people and help you make a unique impact. The company’s USP will be a catalyst for scaling your business and gathering potential customers.

USP marketing is an important part of marketing strategy. We will go deeper into that in the coming sections. Before that, you need to know to find your USP.

Pinpointing your USP

Finding your USP is not an easy process; it takes a lot of thinking and collecting data. It is a process of finding yourself and what your business will stand to uphold in the market. So finding the right one is very crucial. This journey of finding oneself can be divided into three:

• Looking within you

Your USP is the reflection of your company’s mission and what you hope to achieve through your product or service. We here at NeoITO make it our mission to make enterprise-grade product development more accessible to entrepreneurs, helping them compete on a bigger scale while still staying nimble. We cover a range of services in emerging technologies.

Many people stray away from why they started their company, which makes it hard to create a strong USP.

Believe in your product, believe in yourself, because if not you, then who will?

• Looking beside you

Drawing inspiration from your competitors, you can learn how others select a USP to differ from the market.

Scoping out your competition is a great way to learn new things and understand what you can offer to distinguish yourself.

It’s not an uncommon practice for people to go into the competitor’s stores to analyse the things that they offer and gather intel from customers on how they could improve their service. You could try to improve your services according to those reviews.

Read and understand how market research can be done to plan a clear strategy that helps you differentiate your idea from competitors.

• Looking outside you

The customers are your outside help in determining your USP. Just like helping you scope your competition, they can give you valuable feedback on what they want from your company services.

A USP that resonates with the needs of the customers will give more popularity in the market. The specific benefit of creating a USP which aligns with the interest of the customer is that it simplifies the marketing campaigns.

Want to know about different marketing strategies, check out this amazing blog.

How to Communicate?

Being a business owner, you need to be connected with your customers, and they need to know what you intend to sell. Having a USP is useless if people don’t know about it.

Like in a relationship, communication is key in the growth of a business. Your target audience needs to know what you can give them that makes you special.In this digital era, gives you endless possibilities.

Here are a few methods to effectively communicate your USP to the target audience:

• • • Advertising – Advertising your USP through traditional media services and brand marketing campaigns can be a good way for a new business to give an introduction to what they can offer. This way the people will be more familiar with the product.
    • Social Media – Social media have the most variety of users ranging from children to older people. So this provides an opportunity to reach a much wider audience. Since the people in social media are from all around the world, your USP will reach more people.
    • Content Marketing – Creating interesting content to show the uniqueness of your company to communicate your USP.
    • Digital marketing – Online businesses have USP as their tag line or bullet listed on a product page; this is a great marketing strategy. As most people are inclined towards online shopping options, these taglines attract users to your website or product more easily. Digital marketing has different options to explore, ranging from simple taglines to search engine marketing.

Marketing your USP will help people identify your brand more effectively. As your USP needs to reach the maximum number of potential customers, you need to choose the right marketing strategy according to your business type and business model.

Also Read: Top 15 Strategies to Quickly Grow Your Company

Unique Selling Propositon Examples

There are a lot of unique selling points that we see in our daily life. Let’s take a look at a few of them to help you understand what USP is and how companies have used it.

1. Apple

“ The power to be your best “

This was the first slogan adopted by Apple, from the beginning of  their journey, Apple had the unwavering devotion towards quality and creativity.  To this day Apple is leading the tech market because they stick to this. And this is their USP.

2. M&Ms

“The milk chocolate melts in your mouth, not in your hands.”

Those who have made a mess trying to eat chocolate can relate to this slogan. Eating a bar of chocolate that melts in your hands is messy, sticky and makes you look like a two-year-old.

M&Ms solved that problem in their product, and they were confident enough to make it their USP. This actually proves that no matter how quirky your slogan is, if it benefits your customers, it will be effective.

3. Dropbox

“Simplify your life”

The ability to share files and photos without hindering its quality is the main USP for Dropbox. The easy UI/UX interface and multi-language support system has helped the company grow to the vast number of users it has now.

4. DeBeers

“A diamond is forever.”

You are looking at the best slogan of the 20th century, according to the Advertising Age magazine.

DeBeers used the fact that diamonds are unbreakable and last forever to symbolise eternal love. This was the USP they used, simple but powerful. The USP created an uproar in the sales of diamonds as engagement rings.

5. Domino’s Pizza

“You get fresh, hot pizza delivered to your door in 30 minutes or less, or it’s free.”

The slogan clearly states that the company guarantees to deliver your pizza within 30 minutes, and you can hold Domino’s responsible. This was an old slogan of  Dominos, but we have to acknowledge this USP. They still try to deliver their pizza within thirty minutes and that’s why they still hold a dominant position in the fast food industry.

Takeaway

A unique selling proposition or a unique selling point is a powerful tool to help your business in the market. It can sometimes be the push your company needs to scale in the market.

And for the CEOs who have not yet figured out their USP:

Don’t fret if you don’t have a USP; when it comes down, it’s actually about making your product and company stand out in the market. As long as you are successful in making that happen, you’ve got the lead in the marathon; now, you can focus on keeping the lead till the finish line.

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