unique selling point

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As a unique feature ( English unique selling proposition or unique selling point , USP ) in is marketing and the psychology of selling the outstanding feature called, through which a range significantly from the competition takes off. Synonymous is veritable customer benefit . The unique selling proposition should be “defensible”, target group-oriented and economical, and it should be achieved in terms of price, time and quality. The term belongs to the basic marketing vocabulary. A unique selling point, i.e. H. a unique value proposition should be linked to the product.

Performance feature

The unique property of a product or a branded article , which has an advantage over the competition, can be due to the design, special technical characteristics or the service . The unique selling point is typically the basis of an advertising campaign for a product. The provision of a unique selling point represents the central challenge for product policy in marketing, because without such a feature the customer cannot identify with the service, but will only aim to acquire the offer at the best price .

If the unique selling proposition can be patented , it is protected against competitors for the term of the patent.

For providers who strive for price leadership (as discounter ), the unique selling point can of course be that they are the cheapest provider. Such customer benefits must also be clearly communicated.

In sales talks and in the event of a complaint , the unique selling point is of central importance for building up the customer's value proposition. Companies that give their sellers no or only flat utility values ​​for their customers have to act with greater pressure (more customers per day, stronger inductive argumentation , high discounts and rebates ) in order to be able to survive the competition.

Often bad performance is passed on to the seller and the market then gets the impression that the sales department is mainly “persuading”. As a “consideration” for the seller, the commission is then increased, which means that the provider loses twice ( profit margin and image ) and the customer is annoyed.

Emergence

The English expression unique selling proposition , USP for short , was introduced in 1940 by Rosser Reeves in marketing theory and practice as a unique "sales promise" in the context of advertising a product (or a service ). This unique selling point should be such that it sets the benefits of the product to be marketed apart from the products of the competitors. This alleged or actual benefit generally relates to a specific property that other products do not have or do not claim for themselves. The target group addressed in this way should thereby form preferences for the advertised product and ultimately buy it.

As part of his work for the advertising agency Ted Bates & Co, New York , he tried again and again to find out and implement this unique selling point in the products he was advertising in a target group-oriented manner. The dominant idea was to clearly work out and present the reason why a consumer should purchase the advertised product. In the US presidential election campaign in 1952, Rosser Reeves also implemented this unique selling proposition in election advertising. The Republican Party had hired him to promote Dwight D. Eisenhower . What followed was an upheaval in election campaigns as he - successfully - marketed the candidate like soap.

In 1961, Reeves added the theory to the practice of the unique selling proposition that he had practiced. He conclusively demanded that the advertising should clearly convey why the consumer should buy the advertised product (and no other). It is essential that the product must also deliver what the advertising promises. Otherwise, the success will not last.

Strategic importance

In the introduction and growth phase of the product life cycle , the unique selling proposition concept works excellently, provided that the product with this unique selling point hits an unsaturated market . The advertising for the product is very effective due to the unique selling point, since the advertising message can be limited to a few and simple points.

In the maturation and saturation phase of the product life cycle, however, the product policy fixation on the selected unique selling point becomes a problem. In this phase your own product is established, but competing companies bring comparable products onto the market. This also reduces the value of the selected unique selling point, as it is no longer clearly perceived as such by the customer. Therefore, the marketing strategy must now be adapted to the conditions of a mature market. In this case, the differences between the competing products are smaller, which limits the development of unique selling points. But the price can serve as such. There are two sub -strategies : Either you are cheaper than the competition with the same performance, or you offer more performance for the same money (see also: Outpacing strategy ). A strategy that differs from this is to move away from material unique selling points and instead try to build an emotionally charged brand that from now on serves as a unique selling point and binds customers.

development

The basic idea of ​​the unique selling point has been preserved to this day; the concept is constantly being adapted. For example, two US marketing experts built their positioning concept around the unique selling point .

geography

In the geography of tourism , USP is understood as the strategy of a niche policy in order to profile the specific peculiarities and qualities of a place or a region against the background of global standardization tendencies. Examples of unique selling points are national parks ; they signal intact landscapes worth seeing in a no longer intact environment.

Examples

See also

Web links

Wiktionary: Unique selling point  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Rosser Reeves: Reality in Advertising , Knopf, New York 1961, ISBN 978-0-394-44228-0
  2. ^ Al Ries / Jack Trout: Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind , McGraw-Hill, 3rd Edition New York 2000.
  3. ^ Kiplinger's Personal Finance. 1957, ISSN  1528-9729 , Volume 11, No. 4, p. 27 ( limited preview in the Google book search).
  4. ↑ The Red-Green Atomic Dilemma , Die Zeit, May 30, 2011.