MassNet Marketing Blog

Also known as the unique selling position, the USP is often one of the most often misunderstood elements of good advertising. It’s what separates your product or service from your competitors. Let’s take a quick look at some unique selling propositions for a product itself:

1) Lowest Price – If you’ve got the corner marketed on low budget prices, flaunt it. Wal-Mart has made this USP famous lately, but it’s not new to them. In fact, selling for cheaper has been around as long as capitalism itself. Personally, I’m not crazy about price wars, because someone can always come along and sell for cheaper. Then it’s time for a new strategy…

2) Superior Quality – If it outperforms your competitor’s product or is made with higher quality materials, it’s a good bet that you could use this fact to your advantage. For example, compare Breyers Ice Cream to their competitor’s. From the packaging to the wholesome superior ingredients, the quality is evident. It may cost a little more than their competitor’s ice cream, but for their market, it sells.

3) Superior Service – If you offer superior service over your competitor’s, people will buy from you instead. This is especially true with certain markets that are all about service: long-distance, Internet service providers, cable television, etc.

4) Exclusive Rights – If you can legitimately claim that your product is protected by a patent or copyright, licensing agreement, etc., then you have a winner for exclusive rights.

Want some more USP examples?

· We are the only car repair shop that will buy your car if you are not 100 percent satisfied with our work.

· Delivered in 30 minutes or it’s on us!

· No other furniture company will pay for your shipping.

· Our recipe is so secret, only three people in the world know it!

As with most ways to boost ad copy response, research is the key with your USP. Sometimes your USP is obvious, for example if you have a patent. Other times you must do a little legwork to discover it (or shape it to your target market).