What’s your unique selling point?

As we saw with TOMS and Dockers, competing on price alone—or any of the five areas mentioned above—is not enough to really set you apart. For the shoe companies, price is the first layer of differentiation—what initially attracts attention—but there’s more to their USP icebergs than a good discount.

Analyze the biggest brands in the world, and you’ll find this to consistently ring true. Apple isn’t just about quality; McDonald’s ins’t just about price. To identify the core of a business’s unique selling point, we need to consider what lies beneath the surface. This is the part of the USP that works on a subconscious level; the audience feels its presence but isn’t necessarily aware of it. Enter: novelty, rarity and status.

Novelty

Novelty comes from new or innovative features that competitors haven’t yet developed.

This type of USP, often how companies with new products attract their first customers, is usually short-lived as imitators can quickly replicate the new product.

For example, when Apple entered the mobile phone market with the iPhone, it couldn’t just sell another cellphone. To get customers to ditch their Blackberrys, Motorolas, and Palm Pilots, Apple needed to offer them something completely new. So, it offered an iPod, internet access, and phone all in one unimaginably (at the time) beautiful touch screen device. Unfortunately for Apple, it wasn’t long before every phone company had matched or exceeded Apple’s iPhone, so its novelty-based USP quickly evaporated.

Similarly, Lil Nas X shook up the music industry when he put a country guitar and trap beat into one ultra-catchy crossover featuring Billy Ray Cyrus. Crossovers and remixes are nothing new in music, and the worlds of country and hip hop have collided numerous times in the past. Nevertheless, “Old Town Road” was a major refreshment that used a continuous string of remixes to preserve its freshness—i.e. its novelty. Novelty put Lil Nas X on the map, but it’ll take something more sustainable to keep him there in the long run.

Rarity

Rarity comes from features that are difficult to imitate or recreate, like a complex algorithm or limited natural resource. This type of USP is more sustainable than novelty-based USPs because it’s harder for competitors to recreate your product.

For example, Eminem’s value to his audience comes down to the rarity of his rapping style. His encyclopedic grasp of the English language and mesmerizing lyricism combine to form a rare talent that audiences can’t just go get from another artist’s music. Eminem knock-offs don’t exist, because the rarity of his talent prohibits it. (Compare this to mumble rapping, a style that’s very easy to mimic, and therefore couldn’t serve as a source of rarity). Talent is a common source of rarity among the artist community. As a music creator, developing a rare talent is one of the best ways to build a killer USP.

Similar to Eminem, Neve Electronics built its business on the rarity of its warm, rich-sounding analogue consoles. Even with the ability to reverse engineer the console, competitors were unable to truly recreate the marquee sound of a Neve. Rarity is a common USP for hardware and software manufacturers in the music industry, where advanced processing secrets lead to subtle differences in sonic qualities that can make or break a project.

Status

Status comes from a brand’s reputation, background story, endorsements and other forms of marketing that establish the brand as a source of value with which customers form an emotional connection.

Status is often developed as a result of providing consistent novelty or rarity over time. Therefore, it’s uncommon for new brands to build a USP based on status.

For example, Nike first emerged as an innovative running shoe company that identified and solved the need for high-end athletic footwear. Nike’s effective combination of quality and specialization led to novelty, which drove up their sales early on. Over time, as more competitors emerged and created similar shoes, Nike’s novelty-based USP all but disappeared. By the 1980s, there was no real differentiator between Nike, Reebok, Adidas, and Puma, so Nike looked for another USP; it brought on Michael Jordan to endorse its product. Since then, Nike’s unique appeal has been based in its association with legendary athletes, making its famous Swoosh and Just Do It a symbol of the success of its ambassadors more than anything specific about its shoes. As such, Nike customers aren’t just buying shoes, they’re buying the symbol of athletic excellence.

Similarly, Dr Dre used his status as a legendary hip hop producer to launch Beats by Dr Dre. While the headphones themselves are not on any top 10 audiophile lists, Dr Dre’s reputation in music made the headphones a symbol of status for its customers. Without the influential name of its cofounder, Beats never would have become the instant success that it did.