Table of Contents
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has issued a sweeping order that would require companies to have a “compelling reason” for using certain limits on short-selling, with the SEC’s intention being to prevent such practices as used by many investment banks during the recent financial crisis –
Anytime you are looking at your marketing strategy or trying to assess its effectiveness in terms of sales vs expenses compared against other possible strategies, ask yourself what is unique about my product/service? What is so special about me that people should buy from me instead of others who offer similar products? That answer will guide all decisions related to your company branding and advertising.
Some good examples include: Apple Inc.’s marketing slogan “Think different,” John Deere’s tagline “John deere plows deeper than anyone else,” McDonald’s full-name brand recognition around their golden arches sign.
A unique selling proposition is a statement that describes the benefits of your product or service. It is an important factor in marketing and sales because it can help to differentiate you from the competition. Read more in detail here: what is unique selling proposition.
Your USP, or unique selling proposition, answers the question “why select us?” by definition. It’s a value, product, service, or advantage of doing business with you that isn’t supplied or can’t be delivered by others nearly as well as you, and that your target audience considers to be a high priority.
Examples of Unique Selling Propositions
Between online ads, TV commercials, and social media posts, you likely see dozens of Examples of Unique Selling Propositions in action every day. Essentially, all that’s happening is that a business is explaining the unique value they offer that their competitors can’t rival. Here are some examples you may have encountered without realizing it:
Robinhood
By using a low-cost value proposition, an online brokerage distinguished out in the extremely competitive financial industry. Users were sold on the USP offered by one simple slogan: “Investing for everyone.” Users were sold on the USP presented by This online brokerage stood out from the highly competitive financial arena by using the low-price value offering. Through $0 trade commissions and the option to purchase fractional shares, users were sold on the USP presented by one simple slogan: “Investing for everyone.” trading fees and the possibility to acquire fractional shares.
The USP of the Robinhood Investing Platform is that it allows everyone to invest. (Image courtesy of CXL.com)
Canva
Canva, as an online design platform, concentrates on one component of the client experience: simplicity of use. Canva, in comparison to other design platforms, has features and tools that are simple to use by artists of all skill levels. “Empowering the world to create” is a tagline that appears often in their marketing materials.
Canva’s Create Platform USP is that it empowers anyone all around the globe to design (Source: CXL.com)
SoundCloud
Another example of how a company transformed one part of the user experience into a USP is this music platform. SoundCloud is recognized for being the one location where anyone and everyone can publish their music and podcasts for everyone to see, as opposed to rivals like Spotify and Apple Music.
SoundCloud is a platform where you may connect with others via music or podcasts. (Image credit: Wikipedia)
Coffee with a Death Wish
This coffee firm places a premium on product quality in terms of flavor. They boldly zero in on their small target demographic of coffee enthusiasts who want an extra dark roast by guaranteeing “The world’s strongest coffee.”
Coffee with a Death Wish’s USP: The World’s Strongest Coffee. (Source: Amazon)
What is a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) and How Do You Define It?
Creating a unique selling proposition (USP), such as the ones shown in the examples, requires an awareness of the value you provide to your clients and how it differs from that of your rivals. The next stage is to put it to use by communicating that value via marketing and sales efforts.
The following is a step-by-step guide to creating a USP:
1. Evaluate Your Industry & Market
Even though they are in the same sector as bigger organizations, small businesses’ marketplaces are sometimes constrained owing to factors like particular specialities, geographic location, or resources. For example, a local restaurant may use value statements like being locally owned and run and having roots in the community to compare itself favorably against major chain restaurants in the region.
For the objective of identifying value proposition gaps, make your market comparisons as detailed as feasible. Gaps are certain sorts of value propositions that are not already represented in the market (e.g., cheap pricing, excellent quality, top customer service, and so on). The deeper you go into the specifics, the more useful this comparison becomes.
Let’s imagine you operate an accounting company that specializes in providing bookkeeping services to small companies. Another accounting company in the local market focuses on small firms, but their value comes from the fact that they provide full solutions that include bookkeeping, audit, tax preparation, and outsourced chief financial officer (CFO) services all in one location.
Because their value is based on customer convenience via all-in-one offerings, yours must be unique. It might be reduced prices, excellent customer service provided by being available at all times, or intrinsic value add-ons such as free consultations, unique reporting models, or particular software, procedures, or tools that make working with you simpler or more efficient.
2. Determine Who You Want to Reach
Create client profiles that are indicative of your ideal or most frequent buyer types if you haven’t previously (and therefore of your target audiences). You’ll determine distinct priorities, interests, values, and what inspires each consumer type to purchase as part of these profiles.
Look for similar values shared by your target audiences, which might be a suitable fit for your unique selling offer. For example, you may see that a specific age group is more concerned with a product’s pricing than others, but your industry analysis reveals that no other rivals are leveraging cheap prices as a selling factor or targeting marketing toward that profile. Step three will be aided by such knowledge about industry gaps and audiences.
3. Determine Your Individual Value
Begin by making a list of the ways in which your company, its brand, goods, or services are distinct. Then, based on the common values shared by your target audiences, focus on one or a few of those items. Once you’ve found the one that sticks out as the most significant or intriguing, make it your USP.
Let’s return to the accounting example from step one to demonstrate this:
You discovered that you could utilize any USP besides being an all-in-one small company accounting solution based on your industry and market analysis. Your customers have informed you that the free consultations, prompt customer service, and easy-to-use, brand-customized software you enable your clients to use to submit documents are the aspects of your firm that they value the most.
However, after reviewing your target audience and generating customer profiles, you realized that the most frequent characteristic of your customers is that they are mainly company owners who are very busy and want to deal with you as quickly as possible. As a result, you find that your most valuable value offer is an easy-to-use software platform for customers.
4. Create a unique selling proposition that incorporates your value.
Now that you’ve found your most essential difference, transform it into a unique selling proposition and include it into your whole sales strategy. Direct selling actions, as well as marketing campaigns and materials, will express this value.
Use email solutions like Mailchimp to easily build and launch mass email campaigns that express your USP. With prepared templates and simple drag-and-drop editing capabilities, Mailchimp makes it simple to swiftly generate and distribute marketing emails.
Email templates for Mailchimp (Source: Medium)
Incorporate your USP into marketing content and materials by converting the value supplied into a catchphrase. “Expediting Bookkeeping Using Simple Tools” or “Bookkeeping Simplified Through Technology” might be a tagline for the accounting industry. Other ways to turn selling concepts into slogans are as follows:
Your USP should be utilized to propel your sales and marketing material, whether it’s expressed in a slogan or not. Marketing brochures, business cards, calls to action, sales pitches, and campaigns distributed by direct mail, email, social media, and other channels are all examples of this.
Value propositions may also be used to build longer content marketing products like e-books and whitepapers. If your client-facing accounting software uses artificial intelligence (AI), for example, you may develop a downloadable e-book that explains an issue and the advantages of a machine learning tool.
To coordinate both customer and digital marketing assets, use customer relationship management (CRM) software. HubSpot, for example, allows you to save readymade email, newsletter, and promotional templates that your whole team can access, ensuring that everyone is on the same page when it comes to presenting your unique selling proposition.
Organization of HubSpot templates (Source: HubSpot)
Document storage in HubSpot (Image courtesy of HubSpot)
Your slogan may also be useful during direct selling activities, such as during a sales pitch. Other ideas include incorporating the motto into email signatures or utilizing it as the subject line of a cold email, introducing yourself at networking events, or emphasizing it at the conclusion of a sales presentation. This ensures brand continuity, provides agents with solutions to address concerns, and establishes expectations for newly gained clients.
Use your CRM’s tagging tools to categorize your leads based on customer profiles. If your company uses various value propositions based on the customer profile, tagging allows sales reps to identify which USP to emphasize during sales calls, demonstrations, and presentations. Freshsales is a popular CRM that allows users to tag leads.
In the lead record, freshsales tagging is used (Source: Freshworks)
Additional Advantages of a Strong Unique Selling Proposition
Defining your USP makes it simpler to emphasize compelling selling points in sales and marketing initiatives, and it also helps buyers identify the value that your firm provides. You may utilize your USP to emphasize unique value propositions (UVPs) like cheap costs, high-quality solutions, a particularly distinctive user experience, or exceptional customer service, for example.
The creation of a USP also has a variety of good side effects. These may be broken down into four primary categories:
- Creates or defines the identity of your company: A strong and distinct unique selling proposition sets the tone for your company’s identity, values, and presentation.
- Differentiates your company from its rivals: In comparison to rival firms and alternative solutions, your USP acts as a critical distinction. This helps you to concentrate on what your firm does better than the competition, further distinguishing it and generating precise comparison remarks for marketing and sales.
- Overcomes consumer objections: Having a well-defined value proposition allows you to generate ready-to-use replies to typical objections by stressing the unique value that your goods or services provide to clients.
- Sets client expectations: Because your USP defines your brand, it establishes the expectation that your company will deliver on its promises. Customers would anticipate a little amount of money spent on their entire experience compared to other features, such as rapid checkout, high-end products, or curbside pickup, if you’re a retail business with a selling point of having the lowest prices in town.
Conclusion
Understanding how to separate your small company from rivals and converting it into a distinct selling offer is an important component of sales management. You may design your unique selling proposition and establish a clear brand identity by following our examples, software tool recommendations, and step-by-step method, which will help you complete more transactions and service your clients more successfully.
A unique selling proposition is a phrase that is used by businesses to describe the benefits of their product or service. It can be anything from “we’re different,” to “we offer something nobody else does.” For example, if you work for a construction company, your unique selling proposition might be “we have the best materials” or “our prices are unbeatable.” Reference: unique selling proposition examples for construction company.
Related Tags
- unique selling point examples for food
- how to write a unique selling proposition
- unique selling proposition examples for coffee shop
- unique selling point benefits
- unique selling proposition examples for clothing
