Are Offline Business USP's Really Dead?

Wow. I haven't laughed this hard since Robin Williams did his bit about Golf. Thanks man! Read up mate and get the query. Peace.

Not really. I drive 16 miles to go to my barber. On the way, I pass by at least 8 place where I could get my hair cut. One of them is 2 blocks from where I live.

I have several food stores within 2 miles. I patronize 2 a lot, one some time, and 5 or 6 not at all.

When I want to do something to an old car, I take it to a place 13 miles away from me, though there are many, many places closer to me, including one I used to take my car too (I left them for the new one because the new one gives me the same for a lower price.)

All in all, there are dozens of businesses that I could have used but they either didn't catch my attention or they did and did something to lose my business.

Most didn't catch my attention. In other words, their USP/value proposition or whatever you want to call it didn't speak to me (or it did not match the visual: mechanic shop too small and dirty to do be the fastest, most honest, and cheapest (I only bought the cheapest part)).

Several of those businesses do good enough quality work / have good enough products to be twice as busy, at least.

There are two food stores across the street from one another: one screams about 'our quality, fresh products,' and being 'your one-stop' (they think they cary everything you need, from food to liquor to toiletries) charges a lot of money, is part of a large chain and is often busy (but not busy enough). The other one screams about fresh and only sells food and drinks (sodas, juices). Their prices are lower, and they are always very busy.

Location, as I said, is the same. I go to the smaller store a lot, the other one only when the smaller store doesn't carry something and I don't feel like driving 2 miles to another store. A lot of people around here do that too.

By the way, the big store has a large group (older, white, richer) that prefer it (not crowded, large isles) but I have yet to see them talk to those people, to bring them in more often or more of them.

I would beg to differ here... USP in the offline world is all around. Without question some are better than others. “When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight” quickly comes to mind. FedEx, granted is not your average business, but there is no reason every business could not play on the same playing field.

What gets interesting with USP's ( as I see it ) is how Perceived reach or proximity of perceived client base is the logic used to develop a USP. A local pizza shop as an example. They are targeting local customers for their delivery service - hence the USP tends to take on a more geographic nature. They forget they have a dine in section with 50 seats - all of their effort goes into the localized targeting of delivery.

How many times have we seen - or even created for clients USP's that are something like Insert Company name insert city's name best whatever they are. In my book "Best" is not a USP. Fresh on the other hand... low prices... these are great places to start - works for Whole Foods and Walmart.. why not anyone else?

So when we are talking USP.. there are 2 types; there is Explicit, and Implicit. Explicit much like FedEx is going to be a message of promises and guarantees. In general in the way I use these, there are intended for attracting new clients. A personal professional example. I have a plastic surgeon that does liposuction. Coolscuplting becomes a big deal and he losses a fair amount of business. we redirected his efforts and offered 20% off of his services with proof that you had coolsculpting done ( from someone else ), and you were not satisfied. As he introduced coolsculpting into his services we then backed that service with 100% satisfaction. If they did not get the desired effect? they would get Liposuction for free. Promises and Guarantees - very powerful stuff.

Implicit USP's differ in the language and tone of the message that is used. Voted insert city names best Pizza joint - would be implicit, meaning there is the use of the existing customer base voting them the best... they no longer are proclaiming the best, their customers are. Often times there is the use testimonials as a form of USP - think "Loving it" ( McD's ) a bit of a stretch sure.. but you get the idea. Implicit generally is a message based around why the customers you have keep coming back. - hope that makes sense.

Truly effective USP border on the line of marketing message and BRANDING. "Loving it" its a USP by all means.. but plays heavily towards branding. "When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight" without question a USP... but played double duty as a branding mechanism. "It keeps going and going and going" and I could keep going going and going LOL

The smaller the perceived reach, the less USP's are used... but what that means to those of us in marketing, is that the development of such a tool becomes that much more effective for US and our clients.