Unique selling proposition 独特销售主张 点子
Unique selling proposition
独特销售主张
Uniqueness is rare, and coming up with a continuous stream of products with unique features is, in practice, extremely difficult
做到独一无二是困难的，实际上，能够持续提供独一无二的产品更是难上加难
A unique selling proposition (USP) is a description of the qualities that are unique to a particular product or service and that differentiate it in a way which will make customers purchase it rather than its rivals.
独特销售主张要求商家将其特定产品及服务的特征描述为独一无二的，使得消费者愿意购买其产品，而非其竞争对手的。
Marketing experts used to insist that every product and service had to have a USP, at least one unique feature that could be distilled into a 60-second sales spiel, the equivalent of a single written paragraph. But this idea was usurped by the view that what really matters in marketing a product or service is its positioning, where it sits on the spectrum of customer needs. Shampoos, for instance, claim to meet all sorts of different customer needs and sit in all sorts of different positions—the need to wash dry hair or greasy hair, dark hair or blond hair, or the need to wash hair frequently or not so frequently. Few of them, however, can claim to have a unique selling proposition. All of them clean hair.
营销专家曾坚信，每一个产品都需要有一个独特销售主张，这些产品至少要有一个与众不同的特点，可以让推销员滔滔不绝的推销一分钟，相当于一整张书面推销词的数量。但是这个观点遭到了质疑，主要是针对营销中产品到底应当怎样定位，也就是说这些定位到底是不是站在消费者的角度，考虑了消费者的需要。举个洗发水的例子，许多洗发水都宣称它们的品牌可以满足消费者的所有需要，涵盖了所有不同的市场定位——干性头发和油性头发，黑发和金发，经常洗发和不经常洗发。但是他们中很少有品牌能够有一个独特的销售定位。所有的都只是围绕着洗发。
Uniqueness is rare, and coming up with a continuous stream of products with unique features is, in practice, extremely difficult. Philip Kotler says that the difficulty firms have in creating functional uniqueness has made them “focus on having a unique emotional selling proposition (an ESP) instead of a USP”. He gives the example of the Ferrari car and the Rolex watch. Neither has a distinctive functional uniqueness, but each has a unique emotional association in the consumer’s mind.
Uniqueness can be sought in a number of ways:
能够做到独一无二是很困难的，而实际中，产品能够做到一直保持独一无二更是难上加难。菲利普-科特勒认为在产品上难以做到独一无二的公司，将“营销的重点转移到情感销售主张，来代替独特销售主张”。他举法拉利赛车和劳力士手表为例。他们在产品上都没有什么与众不同的功能，但是在消费者的感情里，他们是与众不同的。可以通过下列的一系列方法做到独特性：
• By offering the lowest price. John Lewis, a British department store, used to claim that it was “never knowingly undersold”. Its USP established it as the cheapest vendor (under certain prescribed conditions) of the items that it sold. But this is a rocky route to success, particularly at a time when there are firms prepared to sell (temporarily) at well below cost just to establish turnover. This was the case with many early internet retailing experiments. Moreover, buyers who base their purchasing decisions on price alone are often disloyal. Customers continue to go to John Lewis for many reasons other than its price promise.
提供低价产品。英国百货公司——约翰-刘易斯曾宣称，“本店从未故意抛售商品”。约翰-刘易斯的独特销售主张将其自身定位于其所销售产品的最低价的销售商（当然是在一定的限制条件之下）。但是想要通过这样取得成功实属不易，特别是当公司想要通过低于成本价出售商品（暂时性的）来提高存货周转率时，这种策略就更加不当。早期的网络零售商常常采用这种方法。此外，根据销售价格来决定是否购买产品的消费者通常缺少忠诚度。常常光顾约翰-刘易斯的顾客看重的不仅仅是其销售低价
。
• By offering the highest quality. This is the Rolls-Royce approach to selling.
提供高质量产品。这是劳斯莱斯的销售策略。
• By being exclusive. In the information age, this is an increasingly common type of USP. More and more firms offer a unique packaging of information or knowledge.
提供排他性产品。在这个信息爆炸的时代，这种策略成为独特销售主张的主要类型。越来越多的公司提供独一无二的信息以及知识。
• By offering the best customer service. Domino’s Pizza became the bestselling brand in the United States on the basis of its USP: “Fresh, hot pizza delivered in 30 minutes or less, guaranteed.” It did not promise high quality or low price, just fast delivery. A side benefit of a USP like this is that it compels the firm’s employees to try that bit harder to achieve the promise. A firm that fails to fulfil the promise in its USP is condemned to a short future if it cannot quickly come up with a new one.
提供最佳服务。多米诺比萨通过其独特销售主张成为了美国销售最好的比萨品牌，其策略就是：“确保顾客在30分钟内吃上新鲜的热比萨。”这家比萨店没有通过告知或低价，仅仅是通过快速配送，建立了其独特销售主张。这种独特销售主张的一个良好的副作用就是，可以激发员工的最大热情去努力达到这一主张。如果一个公司没有达到其独特销售主张所希望的那样，除非这家公司很快的改变了其原有的独特销售主张，否则其前景不容乐观。
• By offering the widest choice. This is particularly appropriate to niche markets. A specialist cheese shop, say, can claim to offer a wider selection of cheeses than anyone else.
提供最大范围的选择。这种策略特别适合于小众市场。比如说，一家专门提供奶酪的商店，可以广告为,本店相比其它家，可选择奶酪种类要多得多。
• By giving the best guarantee. This is particularly important in industries such as travel and catalogue selling, where customers pay for something upfront and then have to hope that what they think they have bought is eventually delivered.
提供最佳保证。这种策略特别适合于旅游业和目录销售，在这些行业中，要求消费者预先付款，所以消费者总是希望他们所购买的产品和服务可以不负所望。
Jay Abraham, a marketing consultant who once described himself as “the most expensive and successful marketing consultant on the planet”, said that most businesses do not have a USP:
曾经将自己描述形成“世界上最成功也收费最高的市场营销专家” 的营销顾问杰-亚伯拉罕，曾经表示，大部分的公司没有其独特销售主张：
[They have] only a “me too”, rudderless, nondescript, unappealing business that feeds solely upon the sheer momentum of the marketplace. There’s nothing unique; there’s nothing distinct. They promise no great value, benefit, or service—just “buy from us” for no justifiable, rational reason.
【他们】只是在“跟风”，没有方向，没有特点，没有吸引力，仅仅靠纯粹市场动力来销售产品。没有特点，没有个性。他们没有保证提供非同寻常的价值，利益，或者服务——仅仅是高唱着“快来买我们的产品吧”没有任何理由。