What is Your Unique Selling Proposition?

What is Your Unique Selling Proposition?

You're Leaving Money on the Table if You Don't Have One..

by copywriter and marketing coach Chris Marlow

If you've done any freelance work in marketing, you may be familiar

with the phrase "unique selling proposition" (commonly known as the

"USP").

The USP tells your prospect what differentiates your product from

everyone else's in your category. And it's the single most important

reason your prospect will buy from you...or from someone else.

But did you know that you, as a freelancer, are a "product" too...and

that you need a USP to differentiate you from all of the other business

freelancers working in your field? The most successful copywriters can

say why they're the best writer for the job. Can you?

There are many ways to differentiate yourself from the competition. I

trade on my agency experience and "big name" clients. When I help

my coaching students discover their Unique Selling Proposition, we

start with a review of their experience and successes.

We are positioning one of my students as a "problem solver," because

he's taken start-up companies to great success as a software

salesman. Another student is positioned as "the headline Doctor"

because she feels she is exceptional at writing headlines. She offers

potential clients a free headline critique of their marketing materials,

valued at $300.

Even if you think you have nothing in your background that will

position you as special or unique, you're almost certainly wrong. One

of my students is entering copywriting after spending a lifetime in

anthropology. "How can I possibly find anything in anthropology that a

marketer would value?" she asked. "Tell me about anthropology I

replied."

After a 10-minute discussion she mentioned that there are seven

motivators that are common to all people in all cultures. "Could a

product or service have any kind of connection to any of these

motivators?" I asked. And we brainstormed common products and

services that are commonly sold via direct mail, ads, or ecommerce.

It turned out that there was a link to the seven motivators for every
product or service, which allowed us to say that my student had a
deeper level of empathy for people (and prospects), than most
copywriters. And since the ability to convey empathy is so critical to
the success of a marketing piece, then a client would be well served by
using her copywriting services over someone else's.

My student went on to create a free report to give to potential clients,
entitled "The Amazing Link Between Anthropology and Direct
Marketing that Can Really Increase Your Profits." We also created an
"Empathy Scale" so she could offer to measure the "empathy level" of
a client's past mailing.

So think for a moment. What would you say if a potential client asked
"Why you?" If you don't have a quick answer, then it's time to create
your own powerful USP.

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Chris Marlow shows copywriters and other freelancers how to land the
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