U

A “unique selling proposition” can be understood to be the one aspect of your product or service that is different from and better than products or services from your competitors. In Martin Mayer‧s Madison Avenue U.S.A. we find a discussion of this matter. He writes about Rosser Reeves, who helped develop the USP concept, as follows (1959, New York: Harper and Row, p. 49):

“We can’t sell a product,” Reeves says, “unless it‧s a good product, and even then we can’t sell it unless we can find the Unique Selling Proposition. There are three rules for a USP. First, you need a definite proposition: buy this product and you’ll get this specific benefit. Pick up any textbook on advertising and that‧s what‧s on page one—but everybody ignores it. Then, second, it must be a unique proposition, one which the opposition cannot or does not offer. Third, the proposition must sell.”