USP (Unique Selling Proposition)

What it does:
Defines what makes an organization's products successful in the marketplace; also pinpoints the most effective way to market products to consumers.

Where it comes from:
The term USP was coined by the legendary advertising copywriter Rosser Reeves, who explained it in his 1961 book Reality in Advertising (Knopf, now out of print). Reeves was known as a no-nonsense advertising copywriter who rejected the notion, popular in the 1950s, that people bought products because of deeper Freudian needs. Reeves wrote, "If the product does not meet some existing desire or need of the consumer, the advertising will ultimately fail."

Summary:
The USP is the unique trait or feature of a product that differentiates it from competing products. It is the one predominant thing about a product that causes a consumer to choose that product over others.

You can sometimes see USP's in advertising:

Domino Pizza's "Fresh, hot pizza delivered in 30 minutes or less, guaranteed." No claims are made about the pizza being delicious. Speed of delivery is the USP.

Fedex's "When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight." There is no talk about nice-looking trucks or careful handling of packages. Overnight delivery is the USP.

Because the concept of USP has become widely used and misunderstood in marketing circles, it is worth returning to the definition that Rosser Reeves first gave for it in Reality in Advertising:
- Each advertisement must say to each reader "Buy this product and you will get this specific benefit."
- The proposition must be one that the competition either cannot, or does not, offer. It must be unique.
- The proposition must be so strong that it can "move the mass millions," as Reeves put it. In other words, it must be unique enough to attract new customers to the product.

What else you need to know:
It can be a worthwhile exercise to weigh your products and services against the USP concept. Does your product have some critical feature that differentiates it from all its competitors? If not, can you develop one and use it to drive your marketing and advertising? In short, do your products have one compelling feature that causes consumers to make an immediate buying decision?