No, that isn’t a typo in the title. Back in the 70’s and 80’s, getting ahead in marketing was all about finding your ‘USP’ – your ‘unique selling point’ or ‘proposition’. Now, it’s about three things – benefits, benefits and benefits!
I can see the logic behind that – we have to approach what we do from the customer’s perspective rather than our own (as I was saying about M & S not so long ago); but there’s a problem: Picture yourself in a room with a bunch of lawyers, coaches – or sound people, if you like. You know you need one of them, but how do you choose? Chances are, they’ll all set out broadly the same benefits. So you need to find something that distinguishes one from the rest – their ‘USP’.
Last week, I was talking about Mindy Gibbins-Klein’s book, “24 Carat BOLD”. USPs are something Mindy and I disagree on. She hates the phrase and I don’t. Ok, so that might have something to do with a bit of piggyback brand awareness – the fact that USP means something else to me, beyond the out of favour marketing acronym. Seriously, though, I do think it, or a descendant of it, has a place in marketing and brand awareness in the 21st century. These days, we’ve moved away from the hard sell culture, towards a greater awareness of the importance of building good, strong relationships in business and relationships, whatever form they take, start with attraction. So, perhaps what we should be developing is a UAP – unique attraction point. What do you think?