How to create selling visual content for online based on the identified unique selling proposition?
What is a USP (unique selling proposition) and what is it for? Why is the USP creation service in great demand among fashion retailers today? How to create a working USP? Answers questions and provides step-by-step guidance on how to define your unique selling proposition and work with it to increase online sales, Tatyana Vasilyeva, an SR expert in the promotion and development of fashion brands.
Tatiana Vasilyeva - more than 10 years in the fashion industry. founder of the agency for the promotion and development of clothing brands E-2, founder of the Tri Maruski brand, strategic ex-fashion producer on the ShopAndShow TV channel, author of the course “Creating a selling USP; Identification of the target audience of your brand.
Telegram - @E2fashion
A unique selling proposition (USP) is one or more characteristics of a product or service that make a brand's products stand out in the marketplace. For buyers and customers, your USP can be deciphered by the phrase “Why should I buy this?”. Our task in creating a USP with the help of a value proposition is to “reach out” to the target audience.
Favorably different from other stores among many competitors is only possible thanks to a carefully crafted strategy, which is based on the creation of a strong selling USP.
The task of the brand in relation to the USP is the need to:
● evaluate the compliance of the marketing offer with the consumer's established ideas about the complex quality of the product;
● anticipate the objections of potential consumers and try to neutralize them;
● Evaluate the uniqueness of a competitor's offer and use a counteroffer, or reveal another uniqueness of your product - something that competitors cannot repeat.
The universal structure of the USP must meet several requirements:
1. How are you better than your competitors?
2. Why are you better?
3. What problem of the target audience are you solving?
Let's start with the formula for the ideal USP:
PROPERTY - ADVANTAGE - BENEFITS
Property - a certain unique feature of the product (why your product is unique among dozens of products of the same category).
Advantage of the should follow from the claimed property and lead to a benefit.
Benefit should be functional and emotional
Example: Unique technology from the brand "Shoes" (fictitious name) - SUPER LIGHT (PROPERTY) is cushioning, flexible sole and anatomical insole (ADVANTAGE) that will give you an easy gait and no fatigue in your legs. (FUNCTIONAL BENEFITS) Enjoy walking with your loved ones! (EMOTIONAL BENEFITS)
What should your USP be?
- Be memorable. General statements, "an individual approach to each client" will not make the right impression.
- Be real. Everything you describe must be backed up by action.
- Be customer focused. The USP should highlight a feature or benefit that is important to the client. Therefore, excellent knowledge of your client is a prerequisite for creating a USP.
I propose to consider, using the example of a TV store, the correct creation of a unique offer with knowledge of the pains of your target audience (CA) and the display of USP in visual content. Why take a teleshop? If you have watched the broadcasts of TV stores, then you probably paid attention to how great they can make you fall in love with the product - and now you are ready to call the specified phone number and place an order. Do you know that in TV stores the sales plans per day reach several tens of millions? The thing is that they perfectly know their target audience and the secret of the correct creation of USP, they are able to reveal the properties of each product and convince the client of its necessity and usefulness for him.
I propose to use this experience in creating visual content, especially for online sales on marketplaces and social networks.
So, the most important thing in the work of TV stores:
● Know your target audience well and give a detailed description of the client's avatar.
● Strictly adhere to the rule SAY - SHOW If we say that the shoe has a comfortable last, then we show it in the picture.
● Answer the client's question "Why now?". Your buyer must understand why he needs the product right now.
● The created USP must be confirmed and reflected in your visual content (photo or video). This can be your product card on the marketplace or visual content on social networks and online platforms.
Below we will consider in detail how a USP is created for a product - on the example of sneakers of the fictional shoe brand "Shoes".
CA: women 45+ with age-related anatomical features.
Product: light, leather, demi-season sneakers.
Objections and pains of the client: objection in color, doubts about waterproofness, rise, completeness of the model.
The brand identified the pains and needs of its target audience through questionnaires, analysis of reviews in social networks. In this particular case, the target audience is concerned about two problems: many women suffer from age-related changes in the foot, and their legs get very tired when walking. Knowing these objections and pains of the target audience, we can remove them and work through a correctly created USP and hit the target exactly.
Example: unique technology SUPER LIGHT (a fictitious name) and a lightweight sole will give you lightness and comfort even during long walks. At the same time, each created USP must be confirmed and reflected in your visual content (photo or video).
If we say "Unique technology SUPER LIGHT and a lightweight sole”, then we will definitely show this in the picture, observing the SPEAK-SHOW rule. This can be your product card on the marketplace or visual content on social networks and online platforms.
Comparison or before/after photos work great when you show your target audience their benefit in a photo or video.
Example: in this collage, we show our audience - women 45+, that in our sneakers they will literally flutter, fly, forgetting about fatigue and heaviness in their legs, as is often the case with shoes with heels.
It is extremely important that when drawing up the terms of reference (TOR) for photo and video filming, everything is spelled out in detail, and the creative team knows what to pay attention to. Your shots should be selling, and already by photo and video, the target audience should be convinced that this product will help solve their problem. Do not forget that not everyone will read the text, many look exclusively at the pictures.
What other properties can be revealed and demonstrated to the audience:
● Flexibility in the bow. The foot flexes unobstructed during the step: a macro shot of the shoe, showing the toe, the model makes undulating foot movements, showing that the shoe flexes in the toe. The video is 5-10 seconds long.
● Hidden heel that allows you to feel comfortable in sneakers, but makes your walk graceful and will make you 5 cm taller: demonstration of a hidden heel in a photo using infographics, 3D modeling or on the model’s leg, while one leg is in a sneaker, the other – without, in order to be able to compare the height of the feet.
● If the differences in colors are implicit, it is also possible to show models of different colors and even shades in one photo, where differences will be visible:
Very often, brands conduct photo shoots and video shooting is not thought out, for show. I am categorically against such an approach and I am convinced that it is a waste of money and time. With this approach, the output is photos that do not display the USP of your product, do not “cling” your target audience, reduce the price of your product, or do not demonstrate important nuances for the client. Such photos do not give the buyer a clear answer to the question why he should buy it now.
A good photo should add credibility and weight to the product, which, in turn, builds consumer confidence in the brand. The question is especially important in the context of comparing competitors. When a shopper encounters two identical products at the same price on different sites, the purchase decision is usually influenced by the quality of the photo used to showcase the product. By nature, people react positively to what looks more attractive.
Therefore, it is very important to have a team of professionals, or engage them, to work on the creation of your photo and video content for online sales. It is advisable to invite an experienced producer with the necessary competence, organizational skills, ready to ensure communication between the client and the photographer, to take responsibility for coordinating the work of the entire film crew, which can be quite large. The team may consist of a photographer, one or more assistants, lighting, make-up artist, clothing stylist, set designer.
Let's summarize. What is important:
- Know the pains and needs of your target audience.
- Create a USP for the benefit of your target audience.
- Show all USPs in visual content.
- Choose the right team to create visual content.
If you start implementing the approach described in the article for each product, then your sales will increase several times.
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