Steal These Ideas!: Marketing Secrets That Will Make You a Star, 2nd Edition

CHAPTER 4

HOW TO CREATE A UNIQUE SELLING PROPOSITION

No matter what the marketing landscape looks like when you read this book—in 2011 or 3011—every company needs a clearly stated or visually obvious unique selling proposition (USP). It can take the form of a short mission statement or a tagline that resonates with employees and consumers. Sometimes it can even be just a visual representation of the product or service. A term most ad historians credit to legendary adman Rosser Reeves, a solid USP still remains the best way to differentiate your brand from the competition.

Federal Express is an example of a company so closely aligned with its USP that they really are one and the same. It all started with Fred Smith's brilliant concept, one that ...