The Business Book

2828

T H E S E C R E T O F

B U S I N E S S I S T O

K N O W S O M E T H I N G

T H A T N O B O D Y

E L S E K N O W S

STAND OUT IN THE MARKET

F

ew businesses enjoy the

privileges of monopoly

power in their chosen

fields of operation. Most markets

are increasingly global, increasingly

crowded and, therefore, increasingly

competitive. In order to achieve

commercial success companies

need to do something different—as

Greek shipping magnate Aristotle

Onassis recommended, they need

to “know something that nobody

else knows” in order to stand out

from the competition.

Unique Selling Propositions

Faced with competition, the

strategy for most companies is to

differentiate. This involves offering

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

Differentiation

KEY DATES

1933 US economist Edward

Chamberlin’s Theory of

Monopolistic Competition

describes differentiation as

a means for a company to

charge more for its products or

services by distinguishing

them from the competition.

1940s The concept of the

Unique Selling Proposition

(USP) is put forward by Rosser

Reeves, advertising executive

at New York advertising

agency Ted Bates, Inc.

2003 US marketing professor

Philip Kotler outlines the need

for USPs to be superseded by

Emotional Selling Propositions

(ESPs) in his book Marketing

Insights from A to Z.