A reader asks:
Q: “How do you stand out from all the noise?”
My answer:
A: Become totally unique and then tell the truth.
The only way to truly sound different from everyone else… is to be different from everyone else. Sure, you can write good copy for a “me too” product. But you’ll never be able to write great copy for a “me too” product – copy that slices through all marketing noise, like a razor blade through a crispy-cold pear. That sort of great copy takes a truly great offer… selling a truly unique & wonderful product or service.
…because as soon as you truly ARE different from everyone else… all of the sudden a vast universe of possibilities opens up, possibilities for all the unique things you can say about yourself and your product and your offer. And out of this possibility, great copy is born.
Okay, I get it.
This suggestion is kind of impractical.
Especially if you’re a poor ‘lil copywriter like me… who usually has very little say over what your product is actually like.
So here are 5 kind-of-practical suggestions:
(1) Do everything in your power to push your product away from being a “me too” product… and towards being totally unique. Offering coaching services? Find a weirdly specific niche, and then brand yourself as being a coach to THAT niche. Find ways to innovate on the delivery of your services… like hosting a free day-long “breakthrough retreat” at your house every quarter, for all your paying clients. Selling something different? Innovate, innovate, innovate. Making your product/service so unique that people have a hard time comparing it to ANY other services.
(2) If you don’t have ability to change the actual product you’re promoting… do everything you can to ‘uncover’ the existing aspects of that product that make it essentially different from similar products.
(3) Do everything in your power to find the proof points that distinguish your product from similar products. Got some ‘out of this world’ testimonials? Use ’em. Celebrity endorsements that competing products don’t have? Use ’em. Got a unique ‘backstory’ to your product… that shows how the product was made in a unique way? Tell that story. Research, research, research. Looking for things that show your product to be utterly UNIQUE.
(4) Create a totally unique OFFER for your product that no one else has. Which is good advice for everyone… but especially for people who are having trouble figuring out how their product is unique. If you’re doing something that lots of other people do, like “life coaching,” or something like that… offer a 6-month money-back guarantee that no one else is offering. Or “buy one get one free” coaching calls. Be weird. Stand out. Use your offer as a chance to do this.
(5) Be more personal in your email marketing. Yea, I know, shift of gears. But how you do your email marketing is a GREAT way to stand out from competition. Tell more personal stories. Offer more value. Offer more compassion. Be kinder than all your competition. Build up that trust & emotional connection with your email list… so that when you ask for the sale, your reader happily buys because of how much they trust you (Perry Marshall does this really really well – look him up if you’re not familiar with him).
So there you have it.
Unfortunately, there’s no switch you can easily flip that makes you instantly “stand out from the noise.”
If you want to SOUND different from everyone else…
…you have to SAY different things.
And if you want to SAY different things…
You need to BE different.
Which means offering a unique product or service. Or having a unique guarantee. Or packaging your services in a unique way. And being unique in how you communicate with your audience long-term.
And so I end where I began.
Go become totally unique and then tell the truth.
