USP (Unique Selling Proposition) is not a theoretical concept.
It can really help you acquire customers. That’s why.
It all started from yesterday’s article where I talked about the two ice cream parlours (A and B), next to each other. The first shop was full of customers, the other was empty. And the full one, instead of selling ice cream, sells “bio vegan” ice cream.
I have argued that it is the umpteenth proof of the importance of specialization when compared to generalism.
A ice-cream parlour chose to specialize in organic and vegan ice-cream. The generalist B ice cream parlour decided to offer classic ice creams.
One reader, however, contested my interpretation:
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Absolutely untrue instrumental simplification
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It is true, this was a simplification.
Actually, I am proud to claim it. It was a deliberate simplification: there are so many experts around who elaborate complex but tangled theories… that simplifications represent the last bastion to understand things in a flash with no effort. Long live simplification!
That was instrumental, too.
But I’m not related to the vegan ice cream maker: I just started from that case to talk about market segmentation and specialization.
As for the truth, yesterday’s photo speaks for itself:
A ice cream parlour has a crowd of customers outside, B ice cream parlour B is empty. 1-0.
So, I ask my friend: which other interpretation would have been more truthful?
Was it a mere coincidence? Or does B ice cream parlour make ice creams like that? (but local friends are telling me no, in fact).
Otherwise, I don’t see any other interpretation.
Unless I bring into play the second key of interpretation that I promised myself to talk about today.
That’s what this is about:
not only A ice cream parlour (the one with lots of people inside) has segmented the market and decided to serve the bio-vegan niche…
…but it also informs everyone through a blackboard displayed outside the store!
It’s as if the board were communicating its USP: it informs those who pass along know that the parlour is a champion of organic, vegan, gluten-free ice cream, etc. etc. etc.
Moral:
it is not enough to segment the market and choose a target niche. We also need to let everyone know that we are specialized in that niche (and, possibly, that we are the only ones).
Who knows, maybe B ice-cream parlour would be full too if it had displayed a beautiful sign with the words: “Ice cream as it used to be: only milk, eggs and sugar and nothing else” on it.
The power of the USP, and how to create a USP, are the topics covered in Module 1 of the Marketing Automation System for Italian SMEs. The module also contains an eBook with 26 methods to create your own USP.
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