LOL. (“Laugh out loud” or “Lots of Love.”)
OMG. (“Oh my God.”)
WTF. (“What the – well, you fill in the rest.)
Thank you Twitter for reducing our lives to three-letter acronyms. Now, if you have read previous blog posts from me, you know that I love “three’s.” The human ear loves things that come in threes: “Tall dark and handsome” and so forth. But in our rush to reduce everything to three letters, I think a lot of marketers forgot two of the most important three-letter acronyms.
USP. Unique Selling Proposition.
Do you know yours? Do you even have one? And no, “we’re faster than the other guys” is NOT a unique selling proposition!
Thank goodness you’re reading this, because I am about to show you an easy way – yes, easy as 1, 2, 3 – to create your own USP.
1. Do you remember those old fashioned Order Forms that came with every direct mail offer you got in your mailbox? Not the “inbox” of your email system, but that mailbox that sat outside your home, or in the lobby of your apartment building.
The most powerful part of the Order Form is the USP. It appears right after the big check box (that is already checked) and this bit of copy: “YES! I want…”
2. Create your USP by writing a statement just like that Order Form one, except build it from the following perspective: what does your customer want from you, your products and your service?
And don’t be shy! Put it all down! They want your product to solve a long list of challenges they face every day. They want your product to be faster, more convenient, less expensive and worry free. They want you to deliver your product at light speed. They want you to guarantee your product, backed up with a great refund policy. They want your product to be newer, bigger, smaller, longer, shorter… well, you get the idea.
You should end up with a “Yes! I want…” sentence that runs on and on.
3. Edit down your sentence to a reasonable length. Or better yet, break it up into four sentences, and put a check mark next to each one!
And do not be afraid to go back every six months or one year to re-write your USP.
Refreshing it can give you a better perspective on how you do and what you do.
Oh, and take out some customer letters and read what people say about you, to you. They will let you know your best (and worst) features and benefits. Write your USP from THEIR view!
ROI. Return on Investment.
Stop asking what the response rate is! Stop looking at the average order value! (Well, I don’t mean stop looking at them… just stop letting these two facts be your sole judge on success!)
I recently talked to a marketer who hoped to match a competitors 2.5% response rate. His promotion fell short – 1.5% - and he declared the test a failure.
But his competitor’s average order netted $65, and his own average order netted $150!
His competitor’s promotion cost was $1 per piece; his was just 75 cents per piece.
No rocket science here. Just a quick look and you see that the ROI on this marketers test was much better!
OMG! WTF! Why did he think his test was a failure?
Because he got hung up on response rates!
LOL indeed!
Peter T. Britton
Idea Generator. Wordsmith. Resultant.
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