Ok, in the previous article I spoke about the first three steps of copywriting. I went over Market Research, Defining Your Customers, and the Unique Selling Position (or USP). Today I’m going to go into more detail about the USP. This is a very important step, so we really need to dig in a little deeper to figure out what really makes us unique.

Having a strong USP will really make you STAND OUT FROM THE COMPETITION!

As I said before, you want to position yourself uniquely to sell your product. How do you fit into your market differently? What makes your product so unique and different from the rest? Is it faster, does it last longer, is it the only one of its kind, etc . . . . You want your product to be unique, just like your approach and your personality. Give them something fun to read, not just the usual spiel of “Hey, buy xyz by 4pm today.”

Find a way to communicate with customers to make the sale. Be different than your competition (the way you look, act, talk, dress, etc) while having that open personality. Act like your customers; speak their language. Do your research to find out everything about your target audience so you can act accordingly.

Be honest and don’t throw them a lot of B.S. It’s your product, you are the president of your company, of course you think your product is the best, and that your company is the best. It’s an unfortunate truth that the closer you are to your product, the more B.S. you tend to throw at the customers.

Just be honest; if you are going to claim that your product is the best, you’d better be able to back up that claim. Don’t deepen the mystery of what your product’s all about by giving abstract examples – solve your customer’s specific problems. In other words, don’t try to “wow” people, keep your copy quick and simple.

“We help [this group of people] do [this benefit] better” or “better than the competition.”

STAND OUT!
Don’t use fancy verbs like ‘copywriting’ when you are writing your USP. Don’t say, “We have the top of the line, best trading program ever that can astonishingly beef up your bank account and bring you from $ 500 to $ 1,000,000 in year.” Say something like “We help day traders to continuously profit month after month, even if they make a few bad trades, by keeping the risk low and holding on to profits,” and then show proof.

Saying you can go from $ 500 to a million is not unique; you read that all time how so-and-so went from a few hundred bucks to a millionaire in a just one year. Sounds like B.S. to your customers, right? If it’s true, back it up. If what you say can be said by anyone in the market or by your competitors, then you are not unique.

Other peoples’ opinions don’t count if they are not in your market. Focus on your market. It isn’t about you at all, it’s about you being the person who can deliver and do what the customer needs to get done. Remember, it’s not what you sell, but what your product does for the customer. Talk like you’re talking to your friend who really needs what you are selling. “This will help you get rid of that lame ass secretary you hired”. Speak as if you were just chatting with a buddy. Put your mind in that person’s shoes. Your customer doesn’t know what you know about the product and is coming to you full of questions. Bring up subjects that are critical to that person buying in your copy.

Beware of being in a position where you have to educate people about what you are about to sell them. If your market is not for newbies, then don’t market to newbies. If your product was created for newbies then define it as such. You have to know who you are selling to. Your product will always make sense to you, so you have to constantly be on guard to make sure it makes sense to the customer you are going after.

Sometimes you may have to just tweak your pitch just a little to speak to your target market. The best way to sell and to understand your customers and your market is to influence them, and the way you do that is to LISTEN to what they want. Ask questions no one else cared to ask them. Pay attention. As a writer or salesman, you need to take off the blinders and see what people are really like. How do other people think differently about what you think? Most of us constantly hang out with people of our same income, education, the same race or political persuasion, etc. You need to break out of that habit as a writer so you can truly relate with all of your customers.

===========
By Rich Chille
===========
This article first appeared in the February 2009 issue of the MarketingDotCom newsletter. You can get a free copy of the latest issue for the price of shipping at http://the7figuresecrets.com

Making Money Online

Technorati Tags: Copywriting, Like, marketing, Part, Rebel