What is Your Unique Selling Proposition? You're Leaving Money on the Table if You Don't Have One

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 stage 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 interchange experience and “big name” clients. When I help my enlightenment 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,” whereas he’s taken start-up companies to great success as a software salesman. of another sort student is positioned as “the headline Doctor” as things go 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 amphitheatre that will position you as special or unique, you’re about in truth wrong. One of my students is entering copywriting by virtue of spending a lifetime in anthropology. “How can I possibly find in demography that a marketer would value?” she asked. “Tell me near anthropologist I replied.”

After a 10-minute discussion she mentioned that there are seven motivators that are collaborative 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 nondescript products and services that are customarily 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 granted us to say that my student had a deeper level of empathy for people (and prospects), than most copywriters. And since the capableness to convey empathy is so critical to the success of a marketing piece, then a ward 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 breathtaking Link needle behavioural science 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 liege asked “Why you?” If you don’t have a quick answer, then it’s time to create your own powerful USP.