Assignment 1 preparation: usp and positioning statement & motto

By now you should have begun working on Assignment 1: Positioning Statement and Motto, due next week. You should have already selected your business and completed 1. Target Market/Users and 2. Competitors in the Assignment 1: Positioning Statement and Motto template.

This week, we will focus on 3. USP (Unique Selling Point) and 4. Positioning Statement & Motto.

For additional help with this section of the Assignment 1 template, review Chapter 6 in your textbook, and review the resources linked below.

USP (Unique Selling Point)

How is your brand better than its competitors?

Using your work from 2. Competitor’s section, to assess how your brand is different from the competitors that you assessed.

• What do you think your selected business does better than its competitors?

What is the brand’s USP (Unique Selling Proposition)?

Why would customers want this product or service over the leading competitors?

Follow these five steps to determine your USP.

1. List the features and benefits that are unique about your product or service.
   • Do a Google search and compare these features and benefits with your direct competitors. Identify the benefits that set your product apart.
2. Decide what emotional need is being specifically met by your product or service.
   • Think about this from your customer’s perspective and add it to your list.
3. Identify aspects of your product or service that your competitors cannot imitate.
   • Put a star beside anything that cannot be easily duplicated, reproduced, or copied.
4. Create phrases about your unique product or service that are short, clear, and concise.
   • Use the words from steps 1–3 that you singled out. Be sure they can be easily communicated and understood by your customers.
5. Answering your customer’s primary question, “What’s in it for me?”
   • Make it succinct and state it as a benefit to the customer.

What is the brand’s uniqueness? 

• What makes your brand unique, what makes it stand out?
• Why do you think this is attribute is unique?
• Why do you think customers will want this particular uniqueness? For example, Chick-Fil-A’s customer service is unique. Most fast food restaurants do not offer such high quality service. Many consumers flock to Chick-Fil-A to be treated well.

What is the competitive advantage of the brand? How is it different from other competing brands?

• What does your brand do better than its leading competitors?
• What type of advantage do they have over the competitors? For example, when Steve Jobs invented the iPod touch technology, he knew it was going to be big. He purchased 10 years’ worth of raw material needed to build touch screens. Brands that wanted to copy Apple’s technology had to pay a much higher price for the supplies. This gave Apple the competitive advantage of being able to produce the product at half the cost of the competition.

Does the brand have any attributes or benefits that dominate competitors? 

• What attributes (properties) or benefits do you see that dominate the competitors? For example, iPhones dominate the smartphone market and have for many years. Other brands may have more features, lower costs, and a longer battery life, but iPhone buyers are loyal (sometimes jokingly referred to as a cult!). While iPhones were among the first touch screen phones, it was their user friendly platform and their ability to communicate seamlessly across other Apple devices that made them popular worldwide.

Positioning Statement and Motto

Develop a new positioning statement for the brand you selected.  

• Define your actual positioning statement for the business and discuss why you have decided upon this actual positioning statement. Remember, once you write your positioning statement, make sure you address why you created the statement and why you think it will work.

Develop a new motto for the brand you selected.  

• Create the new motto for the business and then discuss why you created this specific motto. In most cases, businesses call their slogan, their motto; so as you are creating your motto, keep that in mind. Once you create your motto, make sure you address why you created the motto and why you think it will work.