Rise above the competition with a USP: a well-defined "unique selling proposition" will help your gallery find a distinctive niche - advice - Unique Selling Proposition

In the small town of Littleton, NH there is store called Chutter It carries candy, candies, gifts, gourmet nourishment and collectibles. But it is best known for having the "world's longest candy counter"--close to 112 feet drawn out Chutters is listed in the Guinness volume of World Records and was newly named "Retailer of the Year" through the state's Small Business Administration.

In our first scarcely any years in business as a small children's clothing store we looked for a reason for race to shop with us. Our shopping area was called Gordon's Alley. single time, while shopping in a small boutique in novel York, we saw a canvas bag silk guarded with the store's name. We base the manufacturer and ordered a hundr bags with a large "Gordon's Alley" logo printed upon them. Although we were not aware at the time, we would be followed years later by means of Hilfiger, Polo and Gucci. We sold them with a small mark-up. pretty soon they become a "must-have" item for high gymnasium girls. We began carrying them in different colors and shapes and advertising them upon billboards and in newspapers. in a short time young women all over town were walking around carrying our miniature billboards for everyone to see

What does all this have to do with your gallery? These promotions relate to a felicitous marketing concept, first introduced through advertising Hall of Famer Rosser Reeve more than 50 years ago, that still works today. He called it a "Unique Selling Proposition" or USP. You can adopt and adapt this idea for your gallery. To do thus you have to develop an angle that makes you different, separate and above the competition.

Here are a hardly any rules to follow when creating a USP for your gallery.

1 Make your gallery interesting--not the ad.

in what way many times have you watched a TV commercial that grabbed your attention, on the contrary five minutes later, you can't remember what was advertised? The oft-repeated TV ad of a car speeding [i]or[/i] part of to the other the countryside passing other cars may be exciting to watch, on the contrary what makes the car different from any other car?

Reeve who was ceo of T Bates Advertising Agency in the 1960 called these "distraction techniques." They make you watch the ad, on the other hand your interest is with the moderately beautiful girl, the sudden accident, the humorous flash but, uh, what was the yield again?

I one time wrote an advertisement for our store for winter jackets we bought in Helsinki, Finland, using the headline, "We go on to Hell-sinki and back." I thinking it was a clever play upon words that would attract the reader's attention. My wife direct the eyeed at the ad and said, "But by what mode does this ad sell our merchandise?"

I asseverateed saying she didn't understand by what mode clever it was, and I was going to race the ad anyhow.

"Fine," she said, "as lengthy as you know you're sole doing this to promote your hold ego." I tore it up and started all above again.

2 Give your gallery a distinction all its have a title to In 1954, John MacNamara, president of M&M's Candies, walked into Reeves' office and said their advertising wasn't felicitous They talked for a scarcely any minutes, and Reeves quickly base a new advertising idea, which was inherently in the harvest M&M's was the only candy in America that had chocolate encompassed by a sugar shell, which meant the candy would not liquefy in your hand. Based upon this USP, he came up with a slogan still used today, more than 50 years later--"The milk chocolate fuses in your mouth, not in your hand."

Advertising a beautiful reproduction of a print from your gallery may be attractive, on the contrary why does this make your gallery different than any other gallery with identical or similar prints? Do you have this artist exclusively? Does it exhibit a specific area of art?

Artist Nina Bonos said her California gallery's USP brings in destinys of customers. It is known as the gallery with the largest selection of Judaica and music notes. "This theme attracts sales from customers who have this particular interest and as the place to advance for gifts for friends," she said.

3 Write an easy-to-remember slogan. I was walking [i]or[/i] part of to the other the annual Food Marketing Convention in Chicago several years ago and met Michael Copp ceo of the Copp Supermarket chain in Wisconsin. He said he was interested in hiring an advertising consultant. His immediate ne was a slogan for the store's planned expansion that would alert customers in these novel areas that his supermarkets would arrive by and by He asked me to think about it and call him later that week.

Remembering Reeve's USP, I asked, "If I give you the slogan now, will you hire me as your consultant?"

He said, "Sure What's the slogan?"

I said, "The Copp Are Coming!"

This concern to the popular expression quickly beared his market would soon appear in the area.

"You're hired," he said, and we worked together for the nearest 10 years.

His advertising agency quickly picked up the theme and created several animal cartoon characters wearing Keystone Cop style of dresss Each represented a different area of the market. The campaign won many advertising awards, and each opening in a of recent origin community attracted big crowds because the campaign told newspaper readers and TV viewers what was about to happen. (They wisely followed up their arrival with the phrase, "The Copp Are Here!")