Unique Selling Proposition (USP) Crucial to Marketing Success: Why You Gotta Have a Gimmick

Over the years that I've been training, consulting and coaching with business owners and "business owner wanna-bes" on how to maximize their marketing efforts, one of the biggest challenges or frustrations I've run into is explaining the importance of what I consider the cornerstone of good marketing: a clearly defined USP, or Unique Selling Proposition. You see I believe that a good USP has to be quantifiable, definitive and unique, yet whenever I start working with a client on identifying their USP, they usually start off suggesting concepts like those mentioned by my friend in this first video, including this popular trio:

• We're the best at what we do
• We care the most
• We've been in business for "umpteen" years

The problem is, ANY business, from a mortuary to a restaurant or a CPA firm, can say those exact same things, so they're not truly unique identifiers. And generally, they're not even definitive enough to keep a competitor from being able to make the same claim. They are NOT unique selling points!

It's always been a challenge to help my business clients identify elements of their business or service that make them truly different and totally unique. In other words, the elements that allow them to stand out desirably in a crowd of their peers, and convince people to buy only from them - which is what a good USP needs to do.

However, I've come up with a video clip that totally clarifies the USP concept - from, of all things, the 1962 movie classic: "Gypsy." Now this movie might not at first appear to be a marketing tool, since it's based on the autobiography of Gypsy Rose Lee, and depicts the life and times of the famous 1930s-era stripper and her domineering mother. (Hers is such a great true-life story, it wowed Broadway theater-goes prior to this movie, then was re-shot in 1993, as a star-studded TV movie. But as you'll see, there are great USP concepts portrayed in it.

In the clip below, we see a young Natalie Wood as the novice stripper Louise Hovick, who admittedly doesn't have much talent; being "tutored" by three successful strippers, Tessie Tura, Miss Mazeppa, and Electra, on their understanding that in order to be a successful, wealthy and consistently employed stripper, one doesn't need ability; one merely needs to employ "an idea that makes your strip special."

They demonstrate how each has done this, in a hilarious song and dance number, "Ya Gotta Have a Gimmick." Which, is stripper talk for, "you must have a unique selling proposition, so that customers understand how you are different than your competitors, even though each of you might essentially be doing the same thing." Louise listens, and as the movie progresses, we see how she develops her gimmick and becomes the burlesque star, Gypsy Rose Lee...

As the clip shows, understanding how and why a stripper -- or any other business owner -- needs to uniquely define their business in order to be successful is crucial. Without that, your "strip" -- or to mix metaphors and use a more traditional generic term for a business, your "lemonade stand," -- is just the same as the next one, as far as your customers and prospects are concerned. In their minds, you're just a commodity. Your business is NOT SPECIAL in their eyes.

Which means there's no branding and no customer loyalty: Without a strong USP, when your customer gets thirsty, he or she is likely to just stroll over to the closest, newest or even the cheapest beverage mart - fully convinced that one wet beverage is the same as any other.

But once you have identified and promoted a strong USP, your happy and dedicated lemonade swilling customers will insist on going out of their way to make sure they only slake their thirst at your juice stand. Because they know you and what you stand for, and they're sure you and your friendly staff live primarily to serve them the healthiest, most refreshing and most nutritious lemonade, 24/7.

It also means they won't just walk away refreshed - they'll happily tell all their friends and neighbors that they ought to be visiting your lemonade stand as well... Which means that before long, you'll be running a chain of lemonade stands -- and happily building up a burgeoning bank account.

How Do You Figure Out Your USP?

Whether you "bump it with a trumpet," "electrify," or "do it with finesse," most likely there is something in the way you conduct your business or service that IS different than those of your competitors, and it's that difference that you need to make immediately clear to your prospects, via your USP.

Prior to finding this video clip, I would have expressed this concept a bit more conventionally, discussing the importance of differentiating your business from that of your competition based on the five areas of products, process, service, personality and your marketing techniques. In other words, you need to clarify how are your products, service, process, etc. are different, better, longer lasting, healthier, stronger, more refined, etc. (You know, what makes your product or service unique?)

If that didn't help my clients identify a truly unique positioning statement, I'd talk about how an effective USP is not merely a "tagline" -- it is an idea that stands alone and defines the business - allowing you to clearly stand head and shoulders above any competition. And if my clients were still looking puzzled, I'd add that if we as business owners don't define our own unique differences, our clients will create a USP for us - but not necessarily one that we want.

For example, who wants clients to tell their friends about you with descriptors like:

• "Oh, I get my hair cut at Marsha's Hair Razors - you know, its the shop that used to be a massage parlor, above that old taco restaurant on Main Street."
• Or, "Well, my life coach is Scott Smythe, he's really great on, you know, holistic stuff."

But now that you tunefully understand the USP concept - that "you gotta have a gimmick" -- think about your own USP in terms of an "elevator speech" - one or two concept-dense sentences that TOTALLY define your mission.

Because a properly defined USP MUST differentiate you from other businesses which operate in the same area you do; so that your prospects clearly understand why they should do business with you. Not to mention that they know why they ought to do business with you NOW. Your point must be to define your values and show your customers how you can benefit them.

It's Time to Start Defining Your Own USP

In order to develop a strong stand-alone USP, which you will then integrate into all of your marketing materials, let's review the requirements of a good unique selling proposition. It must, simultaneously:

• Attract attention
• Distinguish you from the competition, with regard to your products, process, service, personality, marketing techniques - NOT your price...
• Motivate your prospects to take action NOW
• Fulfill an industry gap - this one is important, and I discuss it a bit more below...
• And do this in a way that is powerful, memorable and distinctive

Is There a "Missing Link," or Gap, in Your Industry? Find That Need and Fill It!

To find your most powerful USP, I absolutely recommend looking at how you can fill an "industry gap." That is, address an area that's causing frustration in your industry, a problem that no one has solved - but which you can see a way to resolve.

Often industry gaps are related to time, money, expertise and mastery. To get at the gaps in your industry, you can generally start by identifying what it is you have that makes you really different.

• Try to come up with 15 top unique, compelling service offerings that you believe make you different.
• Then ask yourself this: Are there any items you list that could be said by anyone else in your industry? If they are, eliminate them from the list, they aren't unique.

Some Famous USP-based Taglines That Were Designed to Fill Industry Gaps

Here are some well-known USP-based marketing taglines which helped to successfully revolutionize their industries:

• "When it absolutely, positively has to get there overnight." And, "Relax it's FedEx", - FedEx was introducing a new concept in shipping
• "Delivered fresh, hot and tasty in 30 minutes or less " Later they played on their well-known USP with: "Get the door. It's Domino's," and "Domino's. The Pizza Delivery Experts" - Dominos Pizza, again, offering faster delivery - yet still promising the pizza would taste good - NEW and UNIQUE at the time
• "We Try Harder." Avis was #2 in the market, needed to find a way to push themselves to the next level in a memorable way

Once the USP light finally dawns, my clients always go on to great success, because the well-defined USP always does its job.

But here's the thing: Even though you now understand that your USP must be absolutely unique, and that it also has to urge people to buy from you NOW, it's still often tough to figure out what's both unique to you and a relevant benefit in the eyes of your proscpects. If you're interested in coaching, I'm accepting a limited number of new clients, or if you're more of a do-it-yourselfer, I recommend these two programs:

• Guerrilla Marketing Association - This program features a free 30 day test drive, weekly newsletter, tips and teleclasses, plus a fantastic resource center. You can't beat it for value!
• Rich Sheffren's Attention Age Doctrine - Find out how your marketing needs to change in the dawning Web 2.0 era...