Many companies are eager to sell you any house plant you want. Some sellers even deliver the plants right to your door. But then reality sets in. Once the plants arrive, you are on your own—best wishes for keeping your indoor garden growing and thriving.
Freddie Blackett, an entrepreneur from the United Kingdom, grew frustrated choosing the right plants for his home and keeping them healthy. In 2015, Freddie founded Patch, an online plant store. Patch recommends, sources, and delivers the best plants for your space and provides handy and ongoing support for caring for the plants. Is a plant not looking quite right? Snap a photo for the Patch’s plant doctor, who will recommend the proper treatment.
What sets Patch apart from most other online plant companies? Timely plant care advice from a live expert. As you might expect, Patch’s marketing highlights this unique solution for green thumbs.
The company’s unique selling proposition (USP) reads, “Patch helps you discover the best plants for your space, delivers them to your door, and helps you look after them.”
What is a Unique Selling Proposition (USP)?
A unique selling proposition is a feature, quality, or service you provide that is different from or superior to what your competitors offer. As a statement, a USP tells what you sell, to whom you sell it, and how it differs from any other available product.
Unique:
Unlike any other offering on the market. Your product or service must provide something that no competitor offers.
Selling:
Able to demonstrate value to the consumer. It must exhibit compelling reasons to buy. Being unique is only helpful if your uniqueness clearly appeals to your prospects and convinces them to trade money for your offering.
Proposition:
A proposal, suggestion, or recommendation that people buy your product. You cannot force people to buy your product. They must choose to make the transaction. Communicating that you offer a unique and valuable product makes buying from you the only logical course of action.
You may have heard terms such as unique selling point, competitive advantage, and positioning statement. In essence, these terms all refer to the same thing.
The following Domino’s Pizza slogan not only put their brand on the map, it also put Domino’s locations all over the map!
“You get fresh, hot pizza delivered to your door in 30 minutes or less—or it’s free.”
Was that a unique offer in the pizza market? Yes. Indeed, it was unique to the entire prepared foods market.
Was it a selling offer? It was undoubtedly a welcome promise to a mom or dad with no energy to make dinner. It also was great for someone short on time. And if the deliveryman was five minutes late, the customer got his pizza free. Who would mind waiting an extra five minutes for free pizza?
Did the target market respond to their proposition? Many experts believe this USP or slogan is the primary marketing factor in Domino’s growth into a billion-dollar company.
Why is creating a USP critical?
- It corners a unique section of the marketplace.
- It helps your brand stand out in a crowded marketplace.
- It increases the ROI (return on investment) on marketing investments.
- It helps you consider your company’s mission and focus on the most critical aspects of your operations.
- It helps you understand how to strengthen your market position. What products should you offer? What marketing channels will best reach your customers?
- It influences your branding and messaging to attract new customers.
What a good USP is.
- Customer-focused. Your uniqueness doesn’t matter unless it solves a unique problem for your clients.
- Authentic. Don’t write a hollow USP that tells the market what you think it wants to hear. Be sure your business performance matches your promises. Your USP should clarify the unique way your company shines.
- Specific. It is not a generality, such as “better food faster.” It is a concrete benefit stated clearly: “Experience an unrivaled culinary journey with our carefully curated menu using only locally sourced, organic ingredients and delivered to your table within 15 minutes of placing your order.”
What a good USP is not.
- A USP does not claim to be the best at everything. It only aims to be the best in one aspect of your company’s business.
- It is not a statement encompassing a broad range of benefits. Instead, it focuses on one or two benefits.
- It is not necessarily the same as your slogan or tagline. A USP is often an internal compass that informs and unifies your external marketing.
- It is not a marketing offer. Free shipping, money-back guarantees, and low prices are not unique. Your competitors can offer the same incentives.
How can you create a strong USP?
While creating a USP is commonly considered a task for the marketing department (and correctly so), this exercise engages the entire company.
Develop a niche. Start with market research to discover a need. Do a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis on your company or products. When you have identified a need, develop a solution to meet the need.
Define your differentiators. Start by researching your competitors and their USPs. How are your products and services different? Are they easier to use? Are they proven to last longer? Very few companies are absolutely unique in their products and services. But, every company must communicate the value of its offerings and distinguish itself from competitors.
Common differentiators include the following:
- Unique skill set or product
- Quality
- Signature style
- Materials used
- Focus on a narrow market
- Location
- Customer service
- Business processes
- Speed of service
- Breadth of offerings
- Industry experience
Deal with actual customer pain points. Don’t forget that you are in business to serve your customers. Imagine yourself in your customers’ shoes. Match your strengths to specific ways you can solve customers’ problems.
Draft your USP. Start by completing an introductory statement like this: [Your company] offers [a product or service] for [target audience] to [unique value proposition]. This won’t likely be the statement you post to your website and use in marketing materials. It will need refinement. But it will give you a great place to start writing your USP.
Putting your USP to work.
It may be tempting to stop after writing your USP, thinking it will automatically transform your message. Actually, the hard work is only beginning—helping your target market understand how badly they need what you offer. That is precisely why your written USP needs to be applied. By aligning your marketing material and branding with your USP, you can clearly sell your niche customers on the great value you provide. Since they cannot get it anywhere else, they must buy from you!
Once you have gained enough confidence for customers to hand over their hard-earned dollars, you must fulfill your promise.
At that point, you are in business! But it does not stop there.
Continue the development cycle and repeat to perfection. When are you done? Never.
Conclusion
Developing a market-worthy USP is a foundational bedrock for business success. If you have a strong USP, you could probably survive on a mediocre marketing approach in a down economy. However, without a USP, your marketing approach will fail to deliver sustainable success.
If your business is struggling, you can keep floundering along until the collapse. Or, you can step back, research, and think creatively about how to develop your USP. It will be a challenging journey, but it will yield tremendous rewards.
If your business is doing well, but you do not know your USP, you can keep rolling until some change undermines your business strategy. By then, it might be too late. Why not do your research now so that you can identify threats to your USP and make proactive changes?
If your business is doing well and you have identified your USP, congratulations! But remember, be alert for changes that could affect your position. As Winston Churchill famously said, “Success is not final.”