A Guide to Develop a Successful Brand USP: Understanding Marketing Tactics
Brand USP: Defining a Brand's Unique Selling Proposition
In today's digital age, with the internet at the forefront, businesses are in constant competition to distinguish themselves.
The marketplace is highly competitive, necessitating distinct and remarkable strategies to capture attention.
A brand's Unique Selling Proposition (USP) serves as a crucial differentiator, enabling its products and services to stand out prominently.
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What is a Brand USP?
Brand USP (unique selling proposition) is the unique aspect of the products and services you sell that help you stay ahead and rise among your competitors.
Some marketing experts consider brand USP one of the most powerful marketing strategies because it makes your customers trust you and choose you over others.
You can also consider brand USP as a powerful position-defining factor of a business in a marketplace.
It also helps you define your ideal customer base so that you don’t have to create products to please everyone.
What Should be the Length of a Brand USP?
A brand USP is a one-liner or a single statement summed up in 10-20 words.
However, your brand USP must be clear, concise, and memorable to help differentiate your business from your competitors.
Usually, a brand USP that can convince you to make a purchase is effective enough to persuade your customers.
And not many companies are that unique or creative.
That’s why you have to do a careful analysis and hard soul-searching to find what your competitors are offering and what new you can offer.
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Difference Between Brand Positioning Vs Brand USP
Most people confuse brand positioning with brand USP, and even though they are essentially the same, they still have a slight difference.
As the name suggests, brand positioning is a statement that tells the customer how you are different from your competitors and what makes you better.
However, the brand positioning does not essentially explain to the customers what benefits you are providing them with your products and services.
So, to summarize, we can say that having a brand USP can elevate your brand positioning.
Because with a USP, you make your customers understand how you are different than your competitors while giving them an idea of how your products and services will cater to their needs.
Does a Brand Need a USP?
Now it's time to address the most common question entrepreneurs have: Does a brand need a USP.
And the straightforward answer to that is yes; otherwise, it will blend in with the rest of the companies in its niche market space.
Because a powerful brand USP tells your potential customers about how different you are from your competition.
So, no matter how big or small a business is, a strong, Unique Selling Proposition is a must. Brands without a USP have extreme difficulty targeting their sales efforts successfully.
However, while creating a brand USP, it is crucial to put yourself in your customer's shoes and find out the real reasons your customers will require your products and services.
What are the Advantages of Having a USP?
Even though we tried our best to explain why having a USP is important and how it will impact your business’s success, we still wanted to lay out all the possible advantages of having a brand USP.
Improved Revenue
With a powerful brand USP, you are giving your customers a valid reason to spend on your products and services, significantly impacting your revenue and increasing your profit.
Streamlined Brand Strategy
When you are devising a marketing strategy or plan for your product campaigns and services, it might not always work, and the primary reason behind that is that you cannot highlight your brand's uniqueness.
However, developing a solid brand USP helps me control how you want your customers to perceive your brand, streamlining your brand’s strategy.
Better Connection with Customers
A significant point of creating a brand USP is to make your potential customers aware of your products, services, and other unique features of your business. You're pinpointing aspects of your brand for your potential customers to appreciate your business.
Brand USPs Examples
Are your creative juices not flowing as you want them to flow? Well, that's not a problem because we will give you some fantastic brand USP examples from various industries that will inspire you to develop a unique selling proposition for your brand.
1. Shopify: 'Build your own eCommerce website in 3 easy steps
Shopify is currently the most popular E-commerce brand that allows anyone with minimalistic knowledge of e-commerce to build a full-fledged website and start selling their products.
The whole point of Shopify’s USB is to provide people with an easy platform to establish their online businesses without coding or getting into any technicality.
And they have successfully spread that message using their Unique Selling Point, i.e., build your eCommerce website in 3 easy steps.
Over time, Shopify’s brand USP has made people think that Shopify is the top website that helps launch and thrive eCommerce businesses.
2. Coca-Cola: 'Refresh the world. Make a difference.'
You must be wondering why the Unique Selling Proposition of Coca-Cola includes two sentences. Well, a brand's USP can be of more than one sentence if you keep it precise and make people connect with it.
We all know that Coca-Cola is a big brand, but astonishingly, they have used the word ‘refresh’; even though it amazingly compliments drinks, it's still an effortless word.
And that makes us understand that a powerful brand USP does not have to include fancy words. It can be as straightforward as ‘Refresh the world. Make a difference.’
3. Bee’s Wrap: ‘Cover the World in Pollinators, Not Plastic’
Bee’s Wrap is a top example of a brand that played with words to create an interesting USP. The company sells environmental-friendly, reusable wraps made of beeswax, cotton, and resins to cut plastic entirely.
Considering that the brand is highly invested in saving the environment, they have successfully positioned itself as an environmental protector. Both their company’s name and brand USP are smart and well-thought.
4. Pure Formulas: 'Same Day Shipping. Order by 6 pm EST.'
We have added Pure Formulas brand USP to show you how smartly you can use your USP to highlight a unique aspect of your business. Pure Formulas is a company famous for its fitness and food products and services.
However, what makes them genuinely stay ahead of their competitors is that they ship the same day you order something from them. For example, if you need supplements or pet food, you can count on the company to deliver it on the same day you order it.
And it's genius that they came up with a brand USP that explains their fast shipment details to all the customers who visit their website. And that is what separates them from their customers.
5. Tiffany & Co.: ‘Create your own traditions. Break the rules. Love your way.'
Whether you know about jewelry stores or not, you must have heard about Tiffany & Co., an extremely famous jewelry place known for its exquisite wedding rings.
Over time, Tiffany & Co. have adapted their brand to the modernist idea of love. And they want to show that to their customers through their iconic designs and brand USP, i.e., 'Create your own traditions. Break the rules. Love your way.’
The idea here is to promote love while appreciating the diversity which is not still common with big brands. Such USP from such a classic elegant brand makes it even bolder, and you want to shop from Tiffany & Co.
6. IKEA: ‘We’re passionate about life at home.'
IKEA is an online marketplace that is the first place you go when you have to purchase decorative pieces and furniture for your home and office. Their USP is quite interesting, i.e., ‘We’re passionate about life at home.’
The company is pro-sustainability because if you go deeper into its vision, you will find several places that are more than just an online furniture shop.
They want to be affordable and provide sustainable furniture solutions for your home and office spaces. IKEA constantly talks about passion, sustainability, and affordability.
7. Stripe: 'Payments infrastructure for the internet.'
Stripe is a popular payment channel, like PayPal and Payoneer, allowing clients to take payments from their customers. However, there’s a twist that differentiates Stripe from its competitors.
The platform gives power to a user to completely utilize it for complete control over the money, and it explicitly helps freelancers manage their online payments.
8. Canva: 'Empowering the world to design.'
Most of us are aware of Canva because it is one of the most popular and powerful designing tools and publishing platforms that are free to use and has a USP that states: ‘Empowering the world to design.’
The unique thing about Canva is that it invites amateur designers and provides them with an easy platform, unlike Adobe or ProCreate, which are aimed at professionals.
Another great feature of Canva is its drag-and-drop ease that helps you create various flyers, eBooks, images, and documents in minutes.
And they have used that ease for their benefit and successfully created a spot where people can quickly go to design whatever they want.
Write an Ideal Unique Selling Proposition for Your Brand
Now we're moving to our last section, where we will tell you how you can write an ideal Unique Selling Proposition and make your brand stand out among all competitors.
There is no single way to write a strong brand USP; however, the methods below are enough to help you create a fun and precise USP.
Analyze and Research Your Competitors
The first step is to recognize your competitors and see what they are offering to your potential customers. Creating a brand new USP is all about doing deep research so that you can have an idea and direction for going unique with your products and services.
Find the Market Gaps
Once you figure out what you can do to stand out from your competitors, it is crucial to find market gaps that will help you bring innovation to your products and services. Realizing market gaps will allow you to provide something new to your customers.
Prioritize Your Customers’ Needs
Always prioritize your customer needs before anything, and ensure your potential customers can connect with the products and services you offer and grow an affiliation with your brand.
Merge it All!
The last step involves merging the above steps and converting them into a simple write-up. The writer does not have to be perfect in the first row; you must rewrite it to the point where you achieve the best brand USP.
However, it should explain how you are different and what benefits you will provide to your customers. Once you clarify that, your potential customers will automatically start getting attracted to your brand.
Brand USP Guide: Key Takeaways
The best way to develop a unique selling proposition is by finding the gap in your niche market and analyzing your target audience. Then line up the products and services you want to sell and think of your company's vision, purpose, and prospect.
You can do as much in-depth research as possible to develop a unique angle. The best way is to keep writing and rewriting your Brand USP until you feel confident enough that it will relate to your audience's needs.
You can also take inspiration from the brand USP examples we have shared above to develop your company's Unique Selling Proposition. And it will let the uniqueness of your products and services reach your potential customers and help make your business successful.
Are you still, Finding it Hard to Develop Your Brand USP?
Are you still finding it hard to develop a solid brand USP? or do you have other concerns about your branding strategy?
Reach out to our agency, and let us help you with your USP and collaborate with you to develop a kickass brand strategy.
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Other Resources
Branding in a Box for Small Businesses
Digital Marketing Report for 2023
A Simple Brand Positioning Framework That Will Help You Sell Like Crazy
The Ultimate Guide to Creating a Brand Identity