Establishing a Unique Selling Proposition
Your brand image is primarily an emotional construct. Emotion is probably always more powerful in swaying people than reason, but people like to be able to rationalise their choices. This is where awareness of another advertising theory - the USP - can be helpful to you.
The USP, or unique selling proposition, formula was developed by Rosser Reeves, an ex-copywriter who became head of the Ted Bates agency in New York. He wrote an excellent book, largely dealing with this theory but also covering other aspects of advertising, called Reality in Advertising.
To establish your USP, you compare your product or service with your competitors. Then you determine one feature you have which no one else can offer. This is your unique selling proposition. It is this which you must promote single mindedly.
A 1987 issue of Marketing Week, the British trade paper, gave a wonderful example of how little the average marketing executive understands the phrases he deploys with such gay inconsequence. The subject was ‘Store credit cards’. A bank executive said: The whole point of a Marks & Spencer, Boots, Dixons or even Fortnum & Mason card is to bring people into the store - and to provide a bit of a LISP’ (my italics).
How a credit card can be a unique selling proposition when the same facility is offered by any number of retailers is difficult to comprehend. It reminds one of people who refer to things as being ‘rather’ unique, or ‘fairly’ unique. Here are some typical USPs:
‘Cleans your breath while it cleans your teeth.’
Colgate toothpaste. ‘The too good to hurry mint.’ Murraymints. ‘There’s more for your life at Sears.’ Sears Roebuck. ‘It ain’t fancy but it’s good.’ Horn & Hardarts. ‘The mint with the hole.’ Polo Mints. ‘It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken.’ Perdue Chicken
And, finally, another gentleman in the chicken business: ‘It’s finger lickin’ good.’ Colonel Sanders
One of the problems with the USP is that you sometimes have to rely upon some pretty trivial points of difference to arrive at your proposition - as you can see from the list above. And although, for simple products a good USP may often supply a successful selling idea, I think it is difficult to arrive at one for complex services such as American Express or The Consumers Association.
However, comparing yourself against your competition to discover what USP may exist is a great aid to clear thinking. For example, I was able to improve results for Odhams’ Kathie Webber Cookery Club by writing a headline which was simply a personal way of expressing a USP: `My cookery cards mean you control your weight without giving up luscious food you love to eat.’ This did well in the UK, and even in France, home of gastronomy. Moreover, subsequent approaches to selling this product revolved around this original thought. ====
For SEO training consider Search Tempo. For SEO packages visit blogshot.com.au For Brisbane web design, use johnhacking.com BS0209DP
Researching Your Company’s Product Positioning
Once you have decided on possible positionings for your product or service, it’s wise to research them and see which of them your market finds credible and appealing.
For instance, one of our clients sells a wide range of doors and home hardware to the public through shops. We wanted to find out what the right positioning for them could be - and then reflect it in their advertising.
Accordingly, a number of lines were written, each reflecting a different position. I am going to give you these lines with a brief indication as to how customers reacted to them. This should prove salutary if you ever feel tempted to brag or misrepresent what you offer.
- ‘The best DIY store in town’ - consumers appreciated that the stores were not DIY outlets, so this was seen as inaccurate.
- ‘The ideal home improvement store’ - consumers thought this dealt only in superlatives, which were glib and self-congratulatory.
- ‘The store for top quality home improvements at value for money prices’ - customers thought this was not distinctive; it was overused phraseology; nor did it appear credible - people expect to pay a premium price for quality.
- ‘The home improvement store where service really is personal service’ - the idea of service was good news, but not enough; products had to be good, too. In any case, this claim was seen as something other stores like Marks & Spencer could make.
- ‘Find out what “the trade” has always known’ - people had mixed feelings about the trade. Some thought of it in association with craftsmanship; others thought of cheap workmanship and cowboy operators.
- ‘The store traditionally used by the trade’ - here the same negatives aroused by the previous trade line came up, though in a better sense because of the use of the word ‘traditionally’. One problem, however, is that the line implies such products need proper experience to install.
- ‘Made to last by us. Sold direct to you’ - this conveyed that the company was personally involved in the making of the products, as opposed to being an importer.
Moreover, the line was seen as patriotic, because it clearly meant these were UK goods. It also conveyed craftsmanship, durability and the good value you get by buying direct. Readers also appreciated that the line was to the point, not gimmicky. This line came out on top.
Successful companies tend to have a clear positioning from which they rarely if ever deviate - and then only with great care. I make no apology for reintroducing American Express. It was positioned single-mindedly for many years as ‘the world’s most prestigious financial instrument for business travel or entertainment’. This positioning came out in everything American Express did. For instance, the letter sent out to gain new members which began: ‘Quite frankly the American Express card is not for everyone …’. This reflected the positioning so well that for many years in most countries of the world it was the most cost-effective direct mail used.
===
For SEO training Brisbane consider Search Tempo. For Australian SEO link packages visit blogshot.com.au For Brisbane website design, use johnhacking.com BS0309DP
Translator
