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.

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The following is probably the greatest commandment in “Power Positioning.”

Now that we’ve talked about lead generation advertising, the next step is where to advertise. And the trick to having as many pre-qualified prospects come forward is to have your ad noticed and read by such a specific group of people as much, as often, and as effectively as possible. General publications won’t do that and they cost a lot of money… That’s cost-per-lead money.

Specialized publications, on the other hand, have the distinction of appealing to a specific audience and thus increase the chances of it being noticed as well as read. Why? If one newspaper has a readership of 100,000 but only 25,000 fits into your demographics, where another has only 40,000 readers but all of which fits into your demographics (because the publication is specialized), which one do you think will give you the greatest response?

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To celebrate Independence Day, including the independence from being a slave to your business, I wanted to pass this very special note to you.

As you probably know, for close to a decade my wife, Sylvie Fortin, owns an outsourcing and project fulfillment services company, Workaholics4Hire, Inc. Her client list reads like a venerable who’s who in the marketing world.

Recognizable names include Shawn Casey, Yanik Silver, Frank Kern, and many more (including yours truly), who use her services regularly and have done so for many years. (For instance, her company was featured in John Reese’s Traffic Secrets, in the “Outsourcing Mastery” video.)

Her company offers a variety of services to fit most outsourcing needs that allow you to focus on growing your business rather than micro-managing it…

… From conducting research, creating products, and designing websites, all the way to handling emails, managing customer support, setting up PPC ad campaigns, ghostwriting articles, and much more.

Well, I don’t normally talk about my wife’s services (her doors have been closed to the public for a long time), but just recently she changed her business model RADICALLY. (And it’s not what you think.)

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I recently joined a new band. It’s not a professional band by any stretch (I mean, not one in the sense of gigging all the time). It’s a hobby of mine. I’m the drummer, and I love classic rock.

With this band, and unlike most of the bands I’ve played with in the past, the singer is a woman. Her name is Andrea Lambert, and her vocals are stunning. (She’s also a marketer, too!) Jim Costa and Jeff Moss are also great musicians and fun-to-jam-with, too.

And like most of the bands I join, I love designing their websites. And this one, Ninth Round, is no exception. Just like my main site at SuccessDoctor.com, this site is entirely WordPress-driven, even though it’s not a blog.

But I’d like to ask you a favor, too…

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Last month, I released a WordPress theme that mimics my blog design, Clean Copy. It has a left sidebar and the same font and color scheme as my own blog at MichelFortin.com.

Thank you to everyone who downloaded it!

However, since then a lot of people have requested the right-sidebar version (I recommend the right for SEO purposes). And I also thought about a full, double-sidebar version, with one on each side.

So I decided to hire Cory Miller once again, a talented theme designer whom I highly recommend, to design them. And, he did it. Introducing…

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Lately, a lot of people have asked me where they can get a blog theme like mine, or where did I get mine made. (In fact, it’s practically a daily occurrence.)

Unfortunately, I designed this theme myself — using Kubrick’s base theme, I created the graphic header using Adobe PhotoShop, and tweaked the stylesheet file for the fonts and colors to match it.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, my friend Armand Morin, for whom I wrote the copy for the Big Seminar, suggested sponsoring a free WordPress Theme.

So I decided to hire Cory Miller, a talented theme designer whom I highly recommend, to design a similar-looking theme. And, he did it. Introducing…

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A couple of notes. First off, my personal coaching program has room for three more students. I will not raise the price until the three slots have been taken. It’s currently at $500 a month.

If you join, you will lock in your subscription at that rate, and it will never increase for as long as you remain active. As a member, you can ask me unlimited questions, one question at a time, which I will answer. This is a great opportunity to be mentored by me, personally.

Second, one of my students in my personal coaching program, asked: “Michel, I’m starting a blog using WordPress. Do you have any general tips on things like layout, plugins, design, etc?”

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