Why Do You Need a USP?

Remember that old example of Avis up against Hertz….the one I referred to in the recent post? When Avis came out with the slogan: "We're #2, But We Try Harder," they did two key things. First, they stole what we call the "underdog position." They were the first to do so in the rental car market. Then they also differentiated themselves by claiming superior customer service in that same market segment. Now they owned these two valuable 'positions' in the minds of the consumer. They had "preemptively" moved in and claimed these 'positions'.  (First in is always best.)

MarketingProfs, a popular online marketing newsletter, recently stated that "…research, conducted at USC in California, states that customers reward companies that are seen to go the extra mile—even if they don't personally benefit from that effort. In fact, customers are willing to pay more for a product, frequent one store (read: restaurant) rather than another, and, in general, have a more positive impression of a company or brand that is perceived to put in more effort".

Why? "Consumers recognize that effort is a controllable behavior, and as a result, feel gratitude toward firms that uphold their moral responsibility to work hard, even when they are working to market their products," claims the author. (Giving Firms an 'E' for Effort: Consumer Responses to High-Effort Firms" by Andrea C. Morales.)

Everyone cheers for the underdog, right? Now Avis was it, up against huge #1, Hertz.

Hey, let's hear it for the little guy!

The second very smart marketing thing they did was to differentiate themselves by letting their prospective customer know – in advance – just how much harder they would work for and to keep his business. In those days, no one was pointing out the 'Emperor's new clothes.' The big guys were weak on service. Avis had done its marketing research. It learned the weaknesses…and the strengths…of its bigger competitors. Avis knew to stay away from the things the bigger rivals could easily do because of size, economies of scale, or available resources. But research showed they were weak in the service delivery areas.

If you are going to succeed in your restaurant business, large or small, you can't without an incisive marketing strategy that incorporates the use of the Unique Selling Proposition...and its resultant advertising and slogans to remind the consumer of your adopted USP. Avis decided to 'steal' the underdog position, while working very hard at the local, operational level to seize and hold on to the 'service delivery' top slot. They communicated these two 'positions' with the slogan: "We're #2; But We Try Harder."

Why really bother with all this USP stuff?  Because now we have globalization; many more products, sizes, line extensions, colors, shapes, you name it. We have more companies competing for the same scarce dollars in the customers' pocketbook. The QSR chain marketing guys call it: 'share of stomach.' There is only room for those marketers who understand this global — and local –  hyper-competition; and are prepared to work smarter, not harder within it.

There is only room for those restaurateurs, who are willing to sit down, take a bit of time, study the market and the host of competitors; and what they can do about it. Those independent operators who will produce products, services, or experiences that are positively different from the others. Additionally, there are those food service operators who want to be the first one in their marketplace to do so in such a unique way. They intrinsically make it very difficult to copy them, without looking exactly like a cheap copycat version of the "real thing." (After all, what other car rental companies would now have had the nerve to tell the public that they too would be 'trying harder'?)

These marketing-oriented independent restaurateurs are the ones who will dominate their market.

These are the survivors.

What do you think? Care to share your 2 cents? I'd appreciate your feedback and comments below.