MindValley Labs Internet Marketing Blog

As mar­keters, we always talk about the unique sell­ing propo­si­tion. What ben­e­fits and fea­tures make my prod­uct so unique that it stands out in the marketplace?

How­ever, the mar­ket has become sat­u­rated. Today, the USP has become almost meaningless.

How many prod­ucts out there have the same fea­tures? Let’s take for exam­ple, shoes. From Nike, to Puma, to Adi­das. All these shoes can make you jump higher… accel­er­ate your ath­letic abilities…but what’s the big deal? How dif­fer­ent can a shoelace be? Is there really a unique fea­ture? That’s the first thing I learned when I joined adver­tis­ing — that the USP is dead.

We’re in a new cap­i­tal­ist era in which we are bom­barded with new prod­ucts and new busi­nesses explod­ing every­day in a sea of com­peti­tors. The key here is to high­light and amplify the dif­fer­ences between prod­ucts in the same niche.

The ques­tion you prob­a­bly ask your­self every time you want to launch a new prod­uct is this: How do I stand out when I am in the midst of a sea of prod­ucts – offer­ing the same fea­tures and benefits?

What are the alter­na­tives to a dying USP?

The USP has tran­si­tioned into the UEP — the unique emo­tional propo­si­tion. The pro­gres­sion has gone from “what does this prod­uct do?” to “how does this prod­uct make me feel?”

With the excep­tion of per­haps tech­ni­cal prod­ucts — where tech­no­log­i­cal advances often do have a USP, UEP is becom­ing increas­ingly more and more important.

But do you know what? UEPs are already com­mon in the brand­ing world! As the UEP becomes sat­u­rated, a new mar­ket­ing trend is emerg­ing; the USP that gets you ask­ing, “Who I Am?” It’s the unique spir­i­tual proposition.

How­ever, most peo­ple won’t reach this level in the next few years, but a lot of good brand­ing you see has the U–Spir­i­tual–P edge and this will likely become more com­mon in future.

The pro­gres­sion from ‘how I feel’ to ‘who I am’ — defin­ing one’s inner being — is almost subtle:

USP (what does this prod­uct do?) –>

UEP (what does this prod­uct make me feel?) –>

USP (how does this prod­uct deter­mine who I am?).

Let’s go back to the shoe exam­ple. You don’t hear pitches like ‘these shoes make you 100% faster’, or ‘1000% more pro­duc­tiv­ity with your feet’. No, mar­ket­ing now taps into one’s inner core.

• Nike says: Just do it.
• Adi­das: Impos­si­ble is noth­ing.
• And even Reebok: I am what I am.

The key now is, don’t only think of a USP for your prod­ucts. Always come up with a UEP as well. It’s the only way to keep abreast of today’s online market.

Last 5 posts by

• Are You a Direct Response Gazillionaire-In-Waiting? — Octo­ber 28th, 2008
• 3 For­bid­den Twit­ter Mind Con­trol Tricks to Explode Your Mar­ket­ing — Octo­ber 1st, 2008
• Email Mar­ket­ing Demys­ti­fied — July 24th, 2008
• An Intro­duc­tion to Tro­jan Horse Mar­ket­ing — July 2nd, 2008
• The Paprika Effect: The Brain-dead Sim­ple For­mula to Instant Cus­tomer Delight — June 25th, 2008

About the Author

Kenneth Yu is a tormented artist, but he was determined not to be a starving one. This is the primary reason why this D&AD award-winning advertising creative has plunged into the world of Internet entrepreneurship, and the rest -- as they say -- is history. Straddling both the creative and business realm, Kenneth combines bullet-fast ideation and his vast experience working with the big brands to alchemize marketing gold as the Head Copywriter and Marketing Strategist in MindValley. He shares more out-of-the-box marketing and copywriting tips (plus cool irreverent stuff) on his Twitter

Check out other posts by Kenneth

If you want to see what's in the private lab...

Ask yourself... which part of your business would you most like to improve?

I can send you 7 tactics related to your specific needs, if you like.

You don't have to buy anything, just take it as a backstage pass into our private course.

Will it give you the solution you've been waiting for?

There's only one way to find out.