Finding Your Unique Selling Point (USP)
Discover how to stand out in the saturated lingerie, swimwear, or activewear market through a strong unique selling point.
Whether you’re launching a new brand, looking to refresh an existing business, or simply want to learn more about how to best stand out in the saturated lingerie, swimwear, or activewear market – this article is written especially for you. Determining a strong Unique Selling Proposition (USP) will help your customer see how your products can make their lives better and what you stand for as a brand. A USP gives you higher chances of your customers choosing your products over your competitors. To learn more about USP, get in touch with the LCE team and we can help you establish a strong USP for your lingerie or activewear brand.
A study carried out by Shopify found that 95% of businesses were more successful in attracting consumers and producing sales by promoting their USP within their marketing strategy. So a strong USP will enable your brand to stand out, loud and proud.
LET’S START WITH THE BASICS
Your distinctive USP, which is short for a Unique Selling Proposition, is that one thing that sets you apart from your competitors. So how do you establish your product and communication USP, you may ask?
It is important to know that your USP needs to actively communicate your brand’s values as well as what it is that differentiates you from other brands. It encapsulates the values you stand for and how it is going to benefit your customers. Start by conducting market research and establishing your customer’s needs and wants. Establishing a gap to fill will help to pinpoint the problem you’re aiming to solve. If you are serious about running a successful business and want to sell a product, your creative vision should always be supported by comprehensive market and industry research. Your USP should be a holistic element to your brand, a driving factor for all processes from product design and development, and visual art direction to the way you communicate about your brand (marketing and PR).
WHERE DO I START?
To find your USP, you first need to have a clear understanding of your target market, competition, and industry. We suggest grabbing a pen and paper and writing down answers to the following questions:
- Understanding your target audience:
- What do you know about them?
- What is their purchasing behaviour?
- How do they interact with brands?
- Your competitive advantage:
- What makes your brand unique?
- Compare this against your competitors.
- Why are you better? If you can one-up others, that’s a strong basis for market entry.
- Acknowledge key trends in your industry:
- Business Of Fashion – What articles and information could help you with your business?
- WGSN – How could this website help you?
Both share analytical perspectives and actionable recommendations, we suggest keeping up to date with what’s going on and how changes could help or affect your business.
There are a few things we encourage clients to do before they even start developing their new product line or brand. Following these few easy steps can really help make a huge difference to your bottom line and may really determine the ultimate success of your new project.
- Start by doing customer research – Ask your community what they think is currently missing from the market and involve them in the design and production process. The more involved your community feels in the process, the more likely you are to create products that people will want to buy.
- Analyse your competitors – It is very important to understand what your competitors do well and what might be their current weaknesses. The more you understand about their products, communication, and positioning, the better tools you’ll have for creating a strong USP.
- Do thorough industry trends research – As a brand, you always want to be ahead of the curve and know about new industry innovations and upcoming trends.
- Involve industry professionals – Conducting your USP research is time-consuming and may become really tricky or expensive if you don’t have access to sophisticated tools such as Mintel, WGSN, Semrush, Similarweb, and many more.
It may also be difficult for you to have an objective view of your brand and a potential USP and to detach the research from your creative vision. That is why our London Contour Experts team helps clients in a journey of launching new brands and collections, to help them succeed and stand out.
SOMETHING TO READ & LISTEN
If you need a bit of extra inspiration and guidance, there are a few resources that we think can help you in determining your Unique Selling Proposition.
- Give ‘How I Build This’ a listen. In this podcast, Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world’s most prosperous companies, narrating a journey about innovators, entrepreneurs, and idealists – and the movements they built. This podcast is one that we recommend adding to your list, not only does it provide a great insight into business, it has helped us further our knowledge and understanding.
- Conversations of Inspiration by Holly Tucker, who interviews truly inspiring entrepreneurs and learns about their journey to success. You’ll discover the most incredible stories behind the UK’s best-loved brands — from Innocent and Boden to The Body Coach and The Mobo Awards – and learn what made them successful and helped them stand out and innovate as the years went on.
- Wild Thinking – A book that explores life and work, and presents you with the tools to help you consider your brand from a new perspective.
- The Idea In You – A book that supports you step by step – from finding an idea that’s right for you, to creating its fan base and developing it into a business.
Whatever happens, remember that our team of industry experts and analysts are here to help you. Let us know if you would like to speak to us about your USP development and contact us.
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