How to Hook (More) Copywriting Prospects

The other day I was asked a question I hear all too often: “How do I distinguish myself from other copywriters?”

To find the answer, look to one of the most effective and frequently used copywriting and marketing tools. It’s your “Unique Selling Proposition,” or USP.

(I prefer to call it a “Unique Selling Position.” If you’ve read my book, “Power Positioning,” then you’d know that I’m a big fan of positioning rather than prospecting.)

Your USP is also your “hook.”

Time and time again, I’ve told many aspiring copywriters and marketers that a USP is what distinguishes you from the pack. It increases perceived value, expertise, and credibility — without needing to state it outright.

But since I hear this question often, particularly from copywriters just entering the field, I sense that it’s because people need a little help in defining their USP.

So to help you, here’s a tip.

In marketing academia, they say that every product or service has three levels. They include:

• The core product.
• The product itself.
• The augmented product.

What does this have to do with developing a USP? Before I share it to you, let me explain what these three product levels mean.

• The core product is the actual end-result, the benefits, that the product offers. It’s what the product does for people. As Theodore Levitt once said, people don’t buy quarter-inch drills. They buy quarter-inch holes.
• The actual product is what the product is and consists of. This includes the things that make the product a product. Those are the features, the components, the ingredients, even the packaging.
• Finally, the augmented product is what is added to the product or offer to augment it. Things like free shipping, guarantees, customer support, premiums, etc.

Now, in the context of copywriting, you can look at it this way (and this is just an example):

1) Core Product:

Generate and/or increase response.

2) Actual Product:

The copy itself.

Writing the copy includes research, writing the first draft, and delivering the final draft, probably in the form of a Word document or plain text file. It includes all the elements that help to achieve the core product: headline, storyline, bullets, product details, offer, response device, etc.

It also includes the market you’re selling to, such as focusing on a specific industry or audience, or a particular kind of copy such as sales letters, direct mail, websites, etc.

3) Augmented Product:

Whatever you add above and beyond the actual product.

Extras, value-adds, add-ons, bonuses, premiums, and additional things, which can vary tremendously from copywriter to copywriter, and industry to industry.

For example, it can include formatting, graphic design, layout suggestions, project management, market research, rewrites, guarantees, split-testing the actual copy before the final draft, exclusivity, rush service for quicker turnarounds, etc.

How do you use these three layers to define a USP?

Think of these three layers in the form of a bulls-eye, where you have three concentric circles. The center of the bulls-eye being the core product, the middle layer being the actual product, and the outer layer the augmented product.

Now, to develop a unique selling proposition, you can add, remove, change, or give a unique twist to any of these three levels.

The easiest way, of course, it to go from the outside in. That is, find ways to augment your product that few do or that no one does. It may not be one single thing. It may be a combination of them.

(Why is this the simplest way? Because coming up with different angles or variations of the center of the bulls-eye requires a bit more creative thinking. Mind you, developing a USP from within usually produces the best “hooks,” the most prospects, and the greatest perceived value.)

Nevertheless, here’s an example of working with the outside layer: you can offer design suggestions, layouts and mockups, additional tips on how to best use the copy, offer free revisions, writing copy for other parts of the sales funnel (opt-in page, order page, thank-you page, autoresponders, etc), and so on.

Here’s an extra tip.

Don’t offer these willy-nilly. Always place a value on these augmented elements or add-ons. Why? Because if you don’t, people will assume that it’s part of your original offering. It may even decrease your perceived value.

The idea is to increase the perception of higher value. And to do that, you must not only add value to the core offer but also make it visible.

For example, don’t say your copy comes with formatting and layout suggestions. Say you will throw in formatting and layout suggestions, which are additional services, free of charge.

Plus, add a dollar value on those add-ons as if you were to sell them separately. Don’t say your copy comes with one or two revisions. Say your copy comes with an additional revision, free of charge, worth $500.

(Aside from the increase in value perception, this tactic also helps to prevent freeloaders and deal-seekers from asking for concessions before, during, and after the project, because they feel you’re already making some.)

Next in the layers is the actual product. What can you change, add, or remove from the actual product so that it makes you unique?

For instance, how do you conduct your research? Do you interview the client or the client’s clients? Do you have a preparatory questionnaire they must fill-out before work commences? How is your copy written and delivered?

While it is easier to work with the augmented product first, there is also an easy way to work with the middle layer. Which is, of course, niche marketing. It’s to focus on a particular audience, industry, or style of copy.

You could be a copywriter specializing in, say, health products. You could even hone it down to, say, nutrition and foods. You could even be a copywriter who focuses on diets and weightloss exclusively.

But don’t just focus on industries or niches.

Remember, it’s the "actual" product. What you choose to work on and deliver can also be specialized. You don’t have to add or change anything, either. You can simply remove something to make yourself unique.

In fact, offering less or focusing strictly on a certain type of copy can create instant demand and credibility, because being a specialist creates the perception of greater expertise and skill.

For example, you might be a copywriter who focuses strictly on headlines. As a result, you become known as the headline expert. When people (or other copywriters) need help with their headlines, they turn to you.

Or you might be one who only focuses on initial drafts in plain text. While that might seem like a lesser offering, you can say that this is a benefit since you’re entirely focused on the research and the content — unlike other copywriters who offer too much, overextend themselves, and dilute their value as a result.

A neurologist is still a doctor. But you wouldn’t have a general practitioner work on your brain, right? You want a doctor who specializes in the specific problem or area that needs attention.

Copywriters are no different.

I know some copywriters who specialize strictly in software copy, catalogs, or autoresponders, or a combination of niches and copy types — such as direct mail for the financial industry. And they’re doing quite well.

Finally, the innermost layer, the center of the bulls-eye, is the hardest part.

Copy is copy. And copy has one principal function. But let’s say that your copy’s goal is to increase the client’s response, as it is with most copy. Ask yourself, what other benefits do you offer?

I don’t mean additional benefits provided by the augmented product. I’m talking about the copy itself. What else does your copy do for your clients? What else does your copywriting service specifically bring to the table?

Sure, the ultimate goal is to boost response, sales, and profits.

But perhaps it’s to make the client look good as to increase referral clients. Maybe it’s to increase visibility or generate more word-of-mouth. Or perhaps it’s to attract qualified staff or potential investors.

You can and should think of all the benefits your copy delivers.

Don’t just stick with the obvious.

Take some time (even write a list, if you have to) of all the advantages your specific copy offers. What kind of results have you achieved in the past? What other benefits (including unsought benefits) did your clients receive?

(Sometimes, asking for or re-reading client testimonials can offer some clues. If not, take some time to interview some of your past clients. Ask them what your copy did for them, beyond just increasing sales.)

Say your client is also looking for copy that “sounds like them.” In other words, they want a copywriter with a knack for writing in their voice, their language, and their communication style.

In this case, it makes your ghostwriting ability far more effective than other copywriters. That’s a USP right there. (As your “hook,” you might call yourself “The Chameleon Copywriter.”)

Here are some real-world examples.

David Garfinkel is an excellent copywriter. He may label himself as a copywriter, but he is also known as “The World’s Greatest Copywriting Teacher” by his peers. That’s his USP.

Speaking of hooks, another top copywriter, my friend John Carlton, is a master at finding hooks for his clients. That’s his hook.

Brian Clark, also known as “The Copy Blogger,” publishes one of the most prolific blogs on the Internet. The reason is obvious: Brian focuses on writing copy for blogs. That’s his shtick.

Michael Stelzner is an excellent copywriter, too. But his focus is on writing for white papers, including reports, newsletters, and collateral materials. That’s his expertise.

While Tom Chandler deals mostly with corporate clients, he is the expert on something he calls engagement copywriting, which is copy that’s meant to engage the reader and encourage interaction. That’s his specialty.

(On the topic of hooks, Tom is also a rabid fly fisherman.)

What about you?

Again, you need to take some time to really think about this. It might not come overnight — for me, as an example, it took over a decade to find the various benefits my copy specifically brings to the table.

The difference is, you have a leg up because I’m letting you know about this now so you can work on it right away — without having to wait and learn it all by yourself, like I did.

In the end, there are so many ways to develop a good USP. There are so many variants. The idea is to be a bit creative, a bit of a contrarian, and a bit different — not necessarily a whole lot.

Just by being 10% different, unique, original, or special is enough to make you stand out like a sore thumb in an overcrowded, hypercompetitive marketplace.

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