4Ps of Marketing and

USP
 01
UNIQUE
SELLING
PROPOSITION
 Unique Selling Proposition
The key to effective selling a unique selling proposition
(USP). USP or value proposition differentiates one's product
or services from existing products or services, A USP is the
factor presented by a seller as the reason that one product is
different from and better than that of the competition. It is
what sets your business apart or stands out from others with
similar products. Finding your USP requires some searching
and creativity. You can start by analyzing how other
companies use their USPS to their advantage. This requires
analysis of other companies' ads and marketing messages
about how they distinguish themselves from competitors.
 Elements in discovering your
USP:
Empathy --- Put yourself in your customers'
shoes. Carefully scrutinize what your
customers really want that make them come
back again and ignore your competition. It
might be the quality, convenience, reliability,
friendliness, cleanliness, courtesy, or
customer service.
 Elements in discovering your
Identify
USP: customer's desires --- Know what
motivates your customers' behavior and
buying decisions. You need to know what
drives and motivates customers. Go beyond
the traditional customer demographics, such
as age, gender, race, income and geographic
location. You need to look at their motives for
buying such as peer pressure, convenience
and so on.
 Elements in discovering your
USP:
Discover the customer's reason for buying --
Uncover the real reasons customers buy your
product instead of a competitor's. Your
customers are the best source of information
for you to be able to improve your product or
service. You can ask them to rate the
importance of the features like taste, size,
ingredients, atmosphere and service.
 Elements in discovering your
USP:
Research your competition – You can drop
into your competitors’ store to see what and
how they are selling. You should be able to
offer more than your competitor. You might
want to be known for more value, quality,
speed, warranty, or guaranty.
 Elements in discovering your
USP:

You can set your USP based on product

characteristics based on four Ps – Product,
Price, Place, Promotion.
 4Ps of Marketing
Price Place Promotio
Produc
Structu (location and nal
t distribution)
re Strategy
Functionalit List Price Advertising
Channel
y Discounts Sales Force
Inventory
Brand Bundling Publicity
Logistics
Packaging Credit Sales
Distribution
Services Terms Promotion
 Determine Who the
Customers Are:
You can determine who the customers are
in terms of:
1.Target Market
2.Customer Requirements
3.Market Size
 02
TARGET
MARKET
 Target Market
Before you start your new business,
evaluate your potential customers who
will most likely buy from you, Target
market is a specific group of consumers
at which a business aims its products and
services.
 Target Market
Importance of defining the target market:
 To better determine if there are enough
potential customers or enough demand
for your products or services.
 To create your business idea to better
meet the needs of your most likely
customers.
 Target Market
To tailor your products and services to better
meet your customers’ needs and desires,
To target your marketing efforts to reach your
most promising prospects.
To create your marketing messages
effectively.
To determine which media you can use to
reach them.
Target marketing allows you to focus
your marketing and brand message on a
specific market that is more likely to buy
from you.
To define your target market:
1. Look at your current customer base.
Determine who your current customers
are and the reason they buy from you.
Look for common characteristics and
interests.
2. Check out your competition.
Determine who your competitors are
targeting. Find who their current
customers are. Don't go after the same
market. You may find a niche market
that they are overlooking.
3. Analyze your product/service. Write
out a list of each feature of your product
or service. Next to each feature, list the
benefits it provides. Once you have your
benefits listed, make a list of people who
have a need that your benefit fulfills.
4. Choose specific demographics to
target. Identify who has a need for your
product or service, and who is most
likely to buy it. Think about the
following factors: age, location, gender,
income level, education level,
profession, marital status, occupation,
and environment.
5. Consider the psychographics of your
target. Determine how your product or
service will fit into your target’s lifestyle,
and when will your target use the
product. Figure the features most
appealing to your target. Find out the
media your target turn to for information
like newspaper, online, or events.
6. Evaluate your decision in choosing
your target market by determining if
there are enough people that fit the
criteria, if they will benefit, if they can
afford, and if you will be able to reach
them with your message.
You can find this information by
searching online for any research that
others have done on your target. Search
for magazine articles and blogs that talk
about your target market or that talk to
your target market Look for survey
results, or consider conducting a survey
of your own. Ask your current customers
for feedback.
 03
CUSTOMER
REQUIREME
NTS
 Customer Requirements
There are certain characteristics or
specifications that should be present in a
product or service as determined by a
customer for it to be desirable.
1. Quality — product or service feature,
attribute, dimensions, characteristics,
reliability, availability, taste,
effectiveness, freedom from defects.
 Customer Requirements

2. Cost — purchase price, repair cost,

financing terms, depreciation, and
residual value.
3. Delivery - lead times, turnaround
times, setup times, delays.
 Customer Requirements
4. Service & Safety — service
requirements, after purchase reliability,
parts availability, warranties,
maintenance, and product service/safety.
5. Corporate responsibility — ethical
business conduct, environmental impact,
regulatory and legal compliance.
 2 Types of Customer
Requirements
1. Service Requirements — Intangible aspects
of purchasing a product that a customer expects
to be fulfilled. It consists of elements like on-
time delivery, service with a smile, easy-
payment, etc. It encompasses all aspects of how
a customer expects to be treated while
purchasing a product and how smooth his
buying process goes.
 2 Types of Customer
Requirements
2. Output Requirements — These are
mostly the tangible characteristics,
features or specifications that a consumer
expects to be fulfilled in the product, like
quality.
 04
MARKET SIZE
 Market Size

Market size is a measurement of the

total number of individuals in a certain
market who are potential buyers of a
product or service. It is important to
know the market size before launching
a new product or service in an area.
 Estimating Market Size
1. Define your target market — potential
customers who may be interested in your
product or service.
Estimating
Size:
Market

2. Estimate the number of target customers

— you can look at industry databases to
help you quantify your target market.
 Estimating Market Size

3. Determine your market share — find

out the sales of the companies that sell
your type of product and calculate how
much of that market you can capture.
 Estimating Market Size

4. Calculate the potential market size — make a

field research to determine the volume and the
value.  
 05
Validate
Customer-
Related
Concerns
 Validate Customer-Related
Concern
Steps in Identifying & Validating Market Problems:
1. Ask the Right Questions Make sure that you have
your questions prepared before you perform the
interview. Being prepared with the questions you
want to get answered will improve the probability
that you will accomplish your objectives. There are
also several quantitative questions that will help you
validate market problems and quantify how well your
solution is solving those problems.
 Validate Customer-Related
Concern
2. List your target market’s Problem– write down
your target markets three to five most important or
pressing problems. An important part of this ongoing
process is validating what you currently think about
customers’ problem as well as qualifying the impact
those problems are having on customers.
 Validate Customer-Related
Concern
3. Interview Decision Makers — Best
practices when interviewing decision makers
to improve your interviews and response rates.
 Validate Customer-Related
Concern
4. Build a Database — Build a database of the
problems identified and validated. While individual
win reports or loss reports are very important to
understanding your target market's problems and how
well your solution addresses those problems, having a
database that you build over time will allow you to
validate these problems and identify important trends
in the market problems that your solution addresses.
 Validate Customer-Related
Concern
5. Analyze Stated Customer Problems —
Analyze the data to identify problems you may
have missed. You also want to validate that the
problems you wrote down are real for your
markets and not problems that you hope they
have.
Three common methods of collecting data or market
research
1. Interviews — are conducted one-on-one with
professionals who can give detailed responses
because of their knowledge in the industry.
2. Focused group — interactive group setting with a
moderator, where a group of people/customers gives
you face-to-face feedback.
3. Survey research — may use a written or online
questionnaire to be completed by the person being
surveyed, or a telephone interview, or personal
interview.
 06
Interview
 Interview
Interview should be made into weekly or monthly
activities to improve your understanding of your
market's problems. You have to listen to these
three groups within your target market to be able
to become experts on your market.
 Interview

1. Existing Customer- this group includes

customers that recognize they had a problem
and purchased your solution to solve the
problem.
 Interview

2. Evaluators -- this group includes both your

customers (competitive wins) and those
customers that have selected your competition
(competitive losses).
 Interview

3. Potentials — the group of potential

customers that haven't purchased your type of
product, but have tried to solve the same
problems through internal efforts.
n
07
Focused Group
Discussion
(FGD)
 Focused Group Discussion
(FGD)
A focus group is a form of qualitative
research in which a group of people are
asked about their perceptions, opinions,
belief, and attitude towards a product,
service. Questions are asked in an
interactive group setting where participants
are free to talk with other group members.
 Focused Group Discussion
This group may provide
(FGD)
feedback/suggestions/ changes on design,
ideas, concepts, matters, color, etc. They may
express their likes and dislikes on the
product. They may suggest methods of
advertising or promotion. By the end of a
focus discussion the designer/manufacturer
will consider suggested changes to the
design/product and how it is to be
n
08
Survey
 Survey

Market survey is the study of the spending

characteristics and purchasing power of the
consumers who are within your business's
geographic area of operation.
 Survey
1. Telephone interviews — This is an
inexpensive, fast way to get information
from potential customers.
Prepare a script before making the calls to
ensure you cover all your objectives. Most
people don't like to spend a lot of time on
the phone, so keep your questions simple,
clearly worded and brief.
 Survey
2. Direct-mail interviews — The survey
can be a simple one-page questionnaire or
elaborate with cover letter, questionnaire
and reply envelope. Keep questionnaires to
a maximum of one page, less than 20
questions. Direct-mail surveys should be
simple, structured with "yes/no" check
boxes so respondents can answer quickly
and easily.
 Survey
3. E-mail interviews — Many of the
principles used in direct-mail interviews
also apply to this survey. Give clear
instructions on how to respond, and be
appreciative in advance for the data you get
back.