The Unique Selling Proposition (USP) has been a long standing marketing strategy. The phrase, coined by advertising pioneer Roose Reeves in the 1940s, sought to create unique slogans which would have a strong pull on consumers, convincing them to buy the brand. The 3 elements of a USP are:
1. Make a proposition to the customer: Buy/use this and you will get this benefit — a perceived value to the consumer
2. The proposition must be novel–something no one has offered and is unlikely to offer. It cannot be minor.
3. The proposition must be strong enough to pull the customer to the product or service.
USP is the WOW ad that gets attention instantly. Two examples include:
Dominoes: Hot pizza delivered to your door in 30 minutes or less or you get it FREE.
FedEX: When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight. Guaranteed.
Real estate agents have been told to develop a USP to be more successful in the industry, to stand apart from the competition. As Blue Roof blog pointed out in a recent post, brokers too often rely on the same slogans like “We sell more houses than anyone”, “We’re #1″, “Free CMA”, “We care about you”. Where’s the USP beef?
Companies with real estate USPs today include:
Redfin: Buy a home online through them and get 2/3 of the commission refunded.
Zillow: Value any home for free on your computer instantly. Buyers don’t overpay, Seller’s arrive at the right selling price
Jaykinder.com: Guarantees to sell your home in 90 days or less or he will buy it himself.
The wow factor strongly pulls consumers because it appeals in a unique way to what a consumer “perceives” as value. Value to a consumer is filling a need, lessening a hurt or giving a good feeling. For Redfin the proposed benefit is what consumers perceive as a large payout—2/3 of a real estate broker’s commission–cashback at closing. For Zillow the proposed benefit is accurate “close enough” value instantly in a single number –a unique promise of accuracy in what was thought to be (and may actually be) an imperfect pricing system. Jay Kinder offers a no lose proposition.
But is there something better than USP? Reeves warned that any USP must be delivered. The product or service must indeed be superior to the competition. If you don’t pony up what you promise, you will pay a steep price. Yes, you will get the wowed consumers anxious to get your promised benefit. Just don’t BS them or you’re history, fast. A USP creates a positive emotional response that draws people to your brand. But it will not create loyalty to your brand. Think of a page 1 digg post.
MSP: Multiple Selling Propositions
Reeves’ theory may not work today. Burkhard Agency, in its article USP Debunked offers some reasons why MSP may be the better strategy.
1. A USP assumes a Unique Buying Reason most people will be pulled by. Not everyone has the same needs and is therefore not pulled by the same one tag slogan. A one slogan ad puts all your eggs in one marketing basket. Proposing one key benefit will not satisy today’s savvy consumers, who demand more. What really happens, they say, is that people hear or read your USP then fill in the blanks between what you say & what they really need, think and feel.
2. Change happens quickly. Attention spans are shorter. The hot ad today becomes passe next week, no matter the wow. By repeating the same ad, you can even alienate consumers. You can easily go from fab to fad.
3. More advertising venues, especially online, allow competitors to carve out niches easily at relatively low cost. People do not receive targeted USP ads as they did in the past. USP succeeded in large part because those early TV advertisers carpet bombed repeat ads over a limited TV channel universe where almost all consumers were bound to see them. They could get a huge market share & hold it. Not with the TIVO generation, 1,000 channel cable and the Internet.
4. Buckshot covers more area than a single bullet. USPs aim for the center of the bell curve (or today we might say the head) while MSPs aim for the ends of the bell curve (or Anderson’s Long Tail). Rather than trying to please everyone with one targeted message, present your features and benefits in many ways to appeal to many types of customers —run some ads that show you are cool, some that you are reliable, others that show you’re responsive. In this buckshot manner you are likley to hit the varied consumers —some who want cool, others that want relaible and others who value responsive.
5. A USP can be copied. Any good idea will be adopted by others and very quickly. Other Redfins & Zillows will soon appear. The vertical real estate search engine Trulia already has a dozen competitors. Unless you can patent your USP (as Netflix has) it may not win you the referrals that make a real estate agent successful.
The MSP lessen to real estate agents threatened by the USP Goliaths, for example, is to market to consumers that these Goliaths are not superior to you because you offer more benefits they actually need to succeed in a real estate “transaction”.
Related posts:
Word of Mouth Advertising
5 Ways To Market Yourself As An Expert.
MSP is about empowering the consumer with choice.
BlueRoof gives the consumer a choice between buying a home online through us, as Redfin does and receive 50% of the commission, or they can have an agent help them right from the start, in the traditional way, and STILL receive up to $3000 cash.
And if they use BlueRoof martgage they can get up to $3000 more- no matter which way they buy.
That’s MSP…