A Note on Unique Selling

Propositions (USP)

One of the most common topics I get asked about by copywriters

is about USP — or, Unique Selling Proposition.

If you’re not familiar with that term, that’s OK — it basically

just means something that one company can offer, that their
competitors either don’t or can’t, also offer.

For example, Amazon offers an unmatched RANGE of great

products — that’s why it’s called Amazon, reminiscent of the
diverse number of organisms found inside the Amazon Rainforest.
It’s also why their logo shows you they have everything from “A”
to “Z”. No one on earth has a selection of products that’s as huge
as Amazon’s.

When you’re working with freelance copywriting clients, they’ll

usually fall into 1 of 3 these categories when it comes to USP:

1) They have a clearly defined USP that’s

easy to identify and explain
This is actually not a very common scenario, but you may come
across it once in awhile.

For example, one of my clients is a financial advisor who takes

complicated government retirement benefits, and draws
them out in simple, easy to understand pictures that help her
clients (who are all very confused government workers) easily
understand their benefits so they can make good retirement
decisions.

If you find yourself working with a client that has a clearly defined
USP, you obviously want to use every opportunity to BRING OUT
their USP when writing copy for them.

Sometimes this is easier than others. Let’s say you’re working

with a client whose USP is that they have lower prices than their
competitors. That’s easy — you just talk about their low prices!

But sometimes you need to do a little SHOWING, in addition to

just TELLING.

With the financial advisor client I told you about a minute ago,
in addition to TALKING about how she makes government
retirement benefits simple and easy to understand, I also
SHOWED this by actually using some of her simple explanations in
the copy so people could see it.

You need to always be wearing your detective hat, and doing

whatever you need to do to write that great copy.

2) They have a USP that isn’t obvious or

clearly defined
This is a more common scenario. There are lots of successful
professionals and business owners who are very good at what
they do, and yet, if you ask them if they have a “USP”, they might
not have a very good answer to that question because they’ve
never thought about it in those terms before.

One of my clients is a business broker -- he helps business owners

sell their companies when they’re ready to retire or move on to
something new.

On the surface, it might not immediately seem like he has a USP.

From a technical perspective he doesn’t really offer any services
that other business brokers don’t offer. BUT...he’s a good guy who
cares a lot about helping his clients achieve their goals.

For example, he filmed a bunch of video testimonials with his

previous clients and they kept talking about how he really cared
about them, really went out of his way to help them, and that just
made him so different from other brokers who were only focused
on their commissions.

In a case like this, where I recognized that my client really does

have a Unique Selling Proposition, it’s up to me to bring it out in
the copy I write.

This can be a little tricky, because with this type of “softer”

USP, we can’t just say “I CARE ABOUT MY CUSTOMERS MORE!”
because anyone can say that. So you need to find ways to SHOW
it, rather than just saying it.

In this case, I might pepper the copy with tips that help business
owners figure out how much their company is worth, tips on how
to sell as quickly as possible, or get the most money for their
business. Or I might write about some of the business owners my
client has helped with selling their business quickly and easily.
The point is, when I sit down with a new client that doesn’t have a
clearly defined USP, I’m going to look for a softer USP — one that’s
less obvious — and then I’m going to look for ways to SHOW it
wherever and whenever I can.

3) They have no identifiable USP

Let’s face it: many businesses simply don’t have any USP. They
aren’t doing anything different from their competitors — they’re
just another company!

Does that mean you can’t write great copy that will help them? Of
course not — you absolutely can.

For one thing, you can ADVISE them about developing a USP. You
don’t need to come up with earth shattering advice — remember,
they may simply have never thought about having a USP before!

Even something as simple as offering the best customer service

can be a USP for just about any business. The online shoe store
Zappos built a BILLION dollar company — not by selling the best
shoes or having the best prices — but by making customers happy
through AMAZING service.

Maybe your client has just never considered it before! So this is

another area where you can act as a trusted advisor, and really
be that consigliere that helps your clients achieve their goals —
instead of being “just another writer.”

But even if they DON’T have any USP whatsoever, that doesn’t
mean you can’t still write great copy that converts for them! Some
businesses or professionals are just good at what they do, and
they succeed because of that — and there’s a lot of great copy you
can write for those people using the approaches you’ll learn in the
coming weeks as you go through this course.