Death of the Unique Selling Proposition
Death of the Unique Selling Proposition
However, the market has become saturated. Today, the USP has become almost meaningless.
How many products out there have the same features? Let's take for example, shoes. From Nike, to Puma, to Adidas. All these shoes can make you jump higher… accelerate your athletic abilities…but what's the big deal? How different can a shoelace be? Is there really a unique feature? That's the first thing I learned when I joined advertising - that the USP is dead.
We're in a new capitalist era in which we are bombarded with new products and new businesses exploding everyday in a sea of competitors. The key here is to highlight and amplify the differences between products in the same niche.
The question you probably ask yourself every time you want to launch a new product is this: How do I stand out when I am in the midst of a sea of products – offering the same features and benefits?
What are the alternatives to a dying USP?
The USP has transitioned into the UEP - the unique emotional proposition. The progression has gone from "what does this product do?" to "how does this product make me feel?"
With the exception of perhaps technical products - where technological advances often do have a USP, UEP is becoming increasingly more and more important.
But do you know what? UEPs are already common in the branding world! As the UEP becomes saturated, a new marketing trend is emerging; the USP that gets you asking, "Who I Am?" It's the unique spiritual proposition.
However, most people won't reach this level in the next few years, but a lot of good branding you see has the U-Spiritual-P edge and this will likely become more common in future.
The progression from 'how I feel' to 'who I am' - defining one's inner being - is almost subtle:
USP (what does this product do?) ->
UEP (what does this product make me feel?) ->
USP (how does this product determine who I am?).
Let's go back to the shoe example. You don't hear pitches like 'these shoes make you 100% faster', or '1000% more productivity with your feet'. No, marketing now taps into one's inner core.
* Nike says: Just do it.
* Adidas: Impossible is nothing.
* And even Reebok: I am what I am.
The key now is, don't only think of a USP for your products. Always come up with a UEP as well. It's the only way to keep abreast of today's online market.
Death of the Unique Selling Proposition - To learn more about this author, visit Michael Reining's Website.
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As marketers, we always talk about the unique selling proposition. What benefits and features make my product so unique that it stands out in the marketplace?
However, the market has become saturated. Today, the USP has become almost meaningless.
How many products out there have the same features? Let's take for example, shoes. From Nike, to Puma, to Adidas. All these shoes can make you jump higher… accelerate your athletic abilities…but what's the big deal? How different can a shoelace be? Is there really a unique feature? That's the first thing I learned when I joined advertising - that the USP is dead.
We're in a new capitalist era in which we are bombarded with new products and new businesses exploding everyday in a sea of competitors. The key here is to highlight and amplify the differences between products in the same niche.
The question you probably ask yourself every time you want to launch a new product is this: How do I stand out when I am in the midst of a sea of products – offering the same features and benefits?
What are the alternatives to a dying USP?
The USP has transitioned into the UEP - the unique emotional proposition. The progression has gone from "what does this product do?" to "how does this product make me feel?"
With the exception of perhaps technical products - where technological advances often do have a USP, UEP is becoming increasingly more and more important.
But do you know what? UEPs are already common in the branding world! As the UEP becomes saturated, a new marketing trend is emerging; the USP that gets you asking, "Who I Am?" It's the unique spiritual proposition.
However, most people won't reach this level in the next few years, but a lot of good branding you see has the U-Spiritual-P edge and this will likely become more common in future.
The progression from 'how I feel' to 'who I am' - defining one's inner being - is almost subtle:
USP (what does this product do?) ->
UEP (what does this product make me feel?) ->
USP (how does this product determine who I am?).
Let's go back to the shoe example. You don't hear pitches like 'these shoes make you 100% faster', or '1000% more productivity with your feet'. No, marketing now taps into one's inner core.
* Nike says: Just do it.
* Adidas: Impossible is nothing.
* And even Reebok: I am what I am.
The key now is, don't only think of a USP for your products. Always come up with a UEP as well. It's the only way to keep abreast of today's online market.
Death of the Unique Selling Proposition - To learn more about this author, visit Michael Reining's Website.
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website |
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Staging DivaDebra Gould, aka The Staging Diva®, is President of Six Elements Inc., an internationally recognized home staging company. Inspired by many requests from aspiring home stagers wanting to start similar businesses, Gould created the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program. Gould has trained over 1000 Staging Diva Graduates worldwide to start staging businesses. Buying decorating and selling six of her own homes in four years lead to an interest in real estate staging which she turned into a career with the launch of sixelements.com in 2002. Since then she has staged hundreds of homes in addition to teaching home staging training. Gould is the author of several home staging resources including a series of popular ebooks made up of a Design Guide, Color Guide and Portfolio Guide. For more information about Debra Gould visit stagingdiva.com. - Visit Staging Diva's Website |
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Jay Kubassek(Jay's Full Bio: EvanCarmichael.com/jaykubassek) In five years, Canadian-born entrepreneur Jay Kubassek went from selling mufflers at a Midas franchise to revolutionizing Internet marketing with the 2004 launch of CarbonCopyPRO, a online marketing education company, now worth over $20 million with customers in over 160 countries.
As an independent film producer, his upstart film fund Aliquot Films is currently producing a films with Spike Lee and Abel Fererra (starring Ethan Hawke and Dennis Hopper.)
Jay's entrepreneurial spirit is irrepressible. He’s the owner of five companies, a professional speaker and trainer, international real estate developer/investor, extreme sport enthusiast and emerging philanthropist. Jay resides in NYC with his wife Jamie, son Milo and dog Cooper. Visit Jay's official website: www.JayKubassek.com - Visit Jay Kubassek's Website |
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