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Will You Add? - Caution: USPs Can Cause Advertising Failure
Any event will have people who register to attend and fail to show up. There are many reasons for not attending, but it really comes down to priorities.No shows create problems for event planners ranging from wasted meals and poor event atmosphere to listening to excuses and deciding whether or not to charge the posted cancellation fee.Everyone, including the attendees would be better off if people would attend events as planned. Here are some reminders about how you might minimize the number of "no shows" to your event.Get their money (if your event has a fee)With online registration and real time credit card processing, this is easy. Once you have full
Dig deep and you just may be able to find such a gold nugget in your own product or service. When you do, use it to its fullest advantage in all your advertising, marketing and other publicity.
Another angle to try if you’re stuck for a unique product benefit is to look at the company offering the product. In what ways does the company itself differ from the competition?
Before any document is finalized, you need to let someone else take a look at it. I cannot stress enough the significance of this step! Letters, memos, reports, brochures, even important e-mails—any writing that will see the light of day— should be read by others before you send it off because:• Feedback sharpens your final product even though it may drive you crazy, take time, or make you feel like you’ve bared your soul to the world.• Feedback does not mean you have to give up your voice or throw out what you’ve written. Feedback does not equate with criticism.• Feedback is getting another perspective—that of the different audiences who will read your document.
What is a USP?
USP stands for a company’s Unique Selling Proposition. That is, an aspect of a company or product that sets it apart from the competition. It’s what makes customers want to buy your product or service over your competitor’s.
There are three things that a USP must be in order to accomplish this.
1.Descriptive. A strong USP will be descriptive. It will tell the customer exactly what your product or company does differently or better than the competition.
2.Clear. A strong USP will leave no fog in a customer’s mind regarding exactly how he will benefit from using your product or service.
3.Short. A strong USP will be short and to the point. There’s no need, or rather, no room for a long, drawn out explanation in the USP. This is the place to be brief.
Now that you know what a USP must be in order to be strong, let’s take a look at how to come up with one that will turn those failing advertisements and marketing campaigns into successful, money generating profit machines. You see, once you have a strong USP in place you can build all of your advertising and marketing, in fact everything about your company, around that USP.
How is a strong USP created?
Formulating your company’s USP isn’t, nor should it be, a quick, simple thing. It will take a lot of thought and research. But it will be well worth it, I guarantee it. To simplify it slightly, I have broken it down into a three step process.
Step 1: Features and Benefits
Take a piece of paper and divide it down the middle. In the left hand column list all the product’s features. In the right hand column list the benefits of each feature.
“Aren’t they the same thing?” you may ask. The answer is no, they aren’t. A feature is something a product has (such as a lifetime warranty or a special adaptation) or something a company does (such as tax preparation). A benefit, on the other hand, is how that feature is important to your customer. How does it improve your customer’s life? Does it make things simpler? More enjoyable? Give her more time? You get the picture.
Step 2: Identify the USP of your competition
In this step you’re going to do a bit of research on your competition. You need to find out what the USP is for each of your competitors. Next, you’ll want to find out all you can about what features and benefits your competitor’s products offer.
By doing these things you will be able to compare your product with your competitor’s and find out what sets you apart. You can’t build a USP on something that is not unique to your product or company.
But what if your product is so common that there really isn’t a difference strong enough to base your company’s USP on? This is where it can get tricky. But there is hope. If you can’t find a benefit in your product that you can use for a strong USP then you may have to get creative. Check out the USP of M&Ms candy: “M&Ms melt in your mouth, not in your hand.” How many other candies can you think of that could claim this same benefit? At least a few, right? But none of the competition was using this benefit as their USP, so it worked. And worked very well. Now that’s being creative.
Dig deep and you just may be able to find such a gold nugget in your own product or service. When you do, use it to its fullest advantage in all your advertising, marketing and other publicity.
Another angle to try if you’re stuck for a unique product benefit is to look at the company offering the product. In what ways does the company itself differ from the competition? D
The art of giving promotional items can be nearly as important as the art of choosing the right promotional gifts. Some would even say that it is MORE important. Let me share a little story with you.Years ago, I worked as the administrative assistant to a busy CEO who was often plied with the little trinkets that salesmen use as promotional items. After one visit by a salesman, my boss stopped by and carelessly dropped a cardboard shipping box of about a dozen pens on my desk. “Take these home to your kids,” he told me. The pens inside were of decent quality, and each was imprinted with the name of a local company that serviced office machines. We found them very useful at home – but since I
3.Short. A strong USP will be short and to the point. There’s no need, or rather, no room for a long, drawn out explanation in the USP. This is the place to be brief.
Now that you know what a USP must be in order to be strong, let’s take a look at how to come up with one that will turn those failing advertisements and marketing campaigns into successful, money generating profit machines. You see, once you have a strong USP in place you can build all of your advertising and marketing, in fact everything about your company, around that USP.
How is a strong USP created?
Formulating your company’s USP isn’t, nor should it be, a quick, simple thing. It will take a lot of thought and research. But it will be well worth it, I guarantee it. To simplify it slightly, I have broken it down into a three step process.
Step 1: Features and Benefits
Take a piece of paper and divide it down the middle. In the left hand column list all the product’s features. In the right hand column list the benefits of each feature.
“Aren’t they the same thing?” you may ask. The answer is no, they aren’t. A feature is something a product has (such as a lifetime warranty or a special adaptation) or something a company does (such as tax preparation). A benefit, on the other hand, is how that feature is important to your customer. How does it improve your customer’s life? Does it make things simpler? More enjoyable? Give her more time? You get the picture.
Step 2: Identify the USP of your competition
In this step you’re going to do a bit of research on your competition. You need to find out what the USP is for each of your competitors. Next, you’ll want to find out all you can about what features and benefits your competitor’s products offer.
By doing these things you will be able to compare your product with your competitor’s and find out what sets you apart. You can’t build a USP on something that is not unique to your product or company.
But what if your product is so common that there really isn’t a difference strong enough to base your company’s USP on? This is where it can get tricky. But there is hope. If you can’t find a benefit in your product that you can use for a strong USP then you may have to get creative. Check out the USP of M&Ms candy: “M&Ms melt in your mouth, not in your hand.” How many other candies can you think of that could claim this same benefit? At least a few, right? But none of the competition was using this benefit as their USP, so it worked. And worked very well. Now that’s being creative.
Dig deep and you just may be able to find such a gold nugget in your own product or service. When you do, use it to its fullest advantage in all your advertising, marketing and other publicity.
Another angle to try if you’re stuck for a unique product benefit is to look at the company offering the product. In what ways does the company itself differ from the competition?
Risk management is the act or practice of controlling risk. Most businesses re very interested in understanding the ways to control risk. This has created a secondary industry focused on mitigating risk and providing management information that allows business to gain from the knowledge of others who are successful in mitigating risk. As a result there are many trade journals dedicated to risk management information and news. In a constantly changing business environment such news is critical to many companies in taking action to prevent future losses.This process includes identifying and tracking risk areas, developing risk mitigation plans, monitoring risks and performing risk assessment
Step 1: Features and Benefits
Take a piece of paper and divide it down the middle. In the left hand column list all the product’s features. In the right hand column list the benefits of each feature.
“Aren’t they the same thing?” you may ask. The answer is no, they aren’t. A feature is something a product has (such as a lifetime warranty or a special adaptation) or something a company does (such as tax preparation). A benefit, on the other hand, is how that feature is important to your customer. How does it improve your customer’s life? Does it make things simpler? More enjoyable? Give her more time? You get the picture.
Step 2: Identify the USP of your competition
In this step you’re going to do a bit of research on your competition. You need to find out what the USP is for each of your competitors. Next, you’ll want to find out all you can about what features and benefits your competitor’s products offer.
By doing these things you will be able to compare your product with your competitor’s and find out what sets you apart. You can’t build a USP on something that is not unique to your product or company.
But what if your product is so common that there really isn’t a difference strong enough to base your company’s USP on? This is where it can get tricky. But there is hope. If you can’t find a benefit in your product that you can use for a strong USP then you may have to get creative. Check out the USP of M&Ms candy: “M&Ms melt in your mouth, not in your hand.” How many other candies can you think of that could claim this same benefit? At least a few, right? But none of the competition was using this benefit as their USP, so it worked. And worked very well. Now that’s being creative.
Dig deep and you just may be able to find such a gold nugget in your own product or service. When you do, use it to its fullest advantage in all your advertising, marketing and other publicity.
Another angle to try if you’re stuck for a unique product benefit is to look at the company offering the product. In what ways does the company itself differ from the competition?
IN PART 1 of this two part article, we looked at Quality of the Product and Friendliness of the Service. In Part 2 we will consider alignment to particular requirements, responsiveness to needs, ability to deliver to schedule, and cost to the purchaser. Let’s get started.ALIGNMENT TO REQUIREMENTSA big part of competitiveness is found in the alignment of the product to the customer’s requirements -- if it does what it’s supposed to do, they’re gonna consider buying it. This was discussed back in Quality of the Product, but it also means that you, as the producer, have to consider needs that the customer has in keeping his/her own costs down. You will have done that, of course, when
Step 2: Identify the USP of your competition
In this step you’re going to do a bit of research on your competition. You need to find out what the USP is for each of your competitors. Next, you’ll want to find out all you can about what features and benefits your competitor’s products offer.
By doing these things you will be able to compare your product with your competitor’s and find out what sets you apart. You can’t build a USP on something that is not unique to your product or company.
But what if your product is so common that there really isn’t a difference strong enough to base your company’s USP on? This is where it can get tricky. But there is hope. If you can’t find a benefit in your product that you can use for a strong USP then you may have to get creative. Check out the USP of M&Ms candy: “M&Ms melt in your mouth, not in your hand.” How many other candies can you think of that could claim this same benefit? At least a few, right? But none of the competition was using this benefit as their USP, so it worked. And worked very well. Now that’s being creative.
Dig deep and you just may be able to find such a gold nugget in your own product or service. When you do, use it to its fullest advantage in all your advertising, marketing and other publicity.
Another angle to try if you’re stuck for a unique product benefit is to look at the company offering the product. In what ways does the company itself differ from the competition?
Basically speaking, a business loan is a bank credit granted for the functions of a business to be paid with interest on or before fixed date.Business loan is a financial grant awarded to a business for improvement, additional capital, additional resources or other purposes. The business or enterprise applies for a financial grant in exchange for a guarantee that the loan will be used according to the purpose stated in the application and that the loan will be returned in the stipulated time. Failure to do so would mean the confiscation of the item or property named as security or collateral, revocation of the privilege for loans and even acquisition of bad credit name for the business enterp
Dig deep and you just may be able to find such a gold nugget in your own product or service. When you do, use it to its fullest advantage in all your advertising, marketing and other publicity.
Another angle to try if you’re stuck for a unique product benefit is to look at the company offering the product. In what ways does the company itself differ from the competition? Do you offer outstanding customer service? Do you make a guarantee that your competitors do not? Do you provide an actual human when a customer calls rather than an automated run-around? In short, what makes your company unique? This can be the basis for a very strong USP.
Take State Farm Insurance’s: “Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.” This is a perfect example of basing a USP around the company rather than the product.
Step 3: Contact customers and clients
This can be one of the most informative ways of building your USP. Past and current customers or clients will tend to tell you exactly what they did or did not like about your product or service. But be careful. Make certain they are sharing ways their lives were benefited by the product rather than simply what features they liked. You may have to ask specific questions and dig a little deeper in order to extract the information you need, but when you do you’ll know you have a gold nugget.
Contacting customers and clients can be helpful in other ways as well. By keeping customer interview transcripts or questionnaires on file your copywriter can glean them for testimonials or for implying a market preference. This is done quite often. Take Jiff Peanut Butter for example: “Choosey moms choose Jiff.” This is an implied preference.
These three steps will help you on your way to identifying a strong USP for you company or product. Remember, however, that a USP must be important enough to a customer to make him want to buy your product or service over your competitor’s. So, know your customer as well as you do your product and company and you will soon have a USP strong enough to turn those failing advertisements and marketing campaigns into sure-fire winners.
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