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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There’s a debate going on my dis­cus­sion board about “clean design” vs. “clunky design” with your copy, and how it can or can­not affect response rates.

I’m talk­ing about odd lay­outs, incon­sis­tent type­styles, empha­sis using for­mat­ting (like under­lin­ing, high­light­ing, bold­ing, etc), “junk­ing up” copy, and so on.

For exam­ple, on a tele­sem­i­nar I was giv­ing last week, some­one asked “I see so much copy with poor design and bad gram­mar with spelling mis­takes — is it inten­tional or just plain bad copywriting?”

Which reminds me…

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When I cri­tique, edit or rewrite sales copy, I dis­cover that many clients com­mit com­mon errors. Granted, not all of them are writ­ers. But most of them fail to drive cus­tomer actions not because they lack writ­ing skills but because they fail to look at their copy from their read­ers’ perspective.

Although unin­ten­tional, they’re so involved with their busi­ness or prod­uct that they tend to for­get their prospects. They tend to explain things in ways that only they under­stand. They tend to for­get the num­ber one ele­ment in copy­writ­ing. And no, it’s not the copy. It’s not the offer, either. It’s…

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Copy is all about words. Or is it?

Copy is about using words to describe the ben­e­fits of your offer. About using words to paint vivid men­tal imagery. About using words to stir the senses, press all the “hot but­tons” and push the reader to take some kind of action.

But is it really ALL about words? I mean, just words? No.

Some copy­writ­ers claim that graph­ics, for­mat­ting and pho­tographs should NOT be added to a saleslet­ter because they dis­tract. They can take the reader’s focus away from the message.

I agree. But not entirely. Here’s why…

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