Avoid the huge mistake most health & fitness marketers make online

Guess who just landed on your website?

It’s Penelope Parkington, 51, whose last teen just moved out. Now she has plenty of time to start doing some of the things she’s put off for the last 20 years—active social life, Caribbean cruise, getting her PHD.

And Penelope wants to look and feel stellar doing those thing. While she doesn’t have money to burn, she does have it to spend—if she’s convinced she’ll get results.

So she’s on your site looking for nutritional supplements, fitness equipment, or workout DVDs to help her reach her goals. Penelope’s already looked at several other sites, plus she’s looked offline at sales letters and magazine ads.

And each time she’s asking, “What’s separates this stuff from all the rest?”

Does she find that uniqueness in what you offer?

If your only difference is a bunch of descriptive phrases such as, “Ultimate Performance,” “Turbocharged Results,” and “Superior Quality”—you might as well close shop.

Because if you research your competition on, say Google, you’ll see why.

For instance, one day recently, these three categories offered the following results…

• Nutritional supplement companies—2,090,000
• Workout DVDs—9,570,000
• Fitness equipment companies—36,700,000

Here’s how to unlock your product’s true potential

Those results mean you need to do more research to separate what you sell from what they sell.  Then you can create a distinct Unique Selling Proposition (USP) for each of your offerings.

Only sell one product? Then relax and enjoy the challenge.

Anyway, you’re probably already familiar with the concept of USPs. A product’s USP grabs your prospect’s attention in a novel and emotional way. It then shows them why only your product offers the ultimate benefits.

And you uncover your USP only after a complete study of your product—and prospect.

The problem up to now has been weeding out the best USP for your particular niche. Sure, most marketing material—online and off—list USPs. But the definitions and examples are generally generic.

So you need a source that lists USPs for just health, wellness, fitness, and self-help products.

A shortened form of that list follows…

• Components

To find this USP just ask yourself: What feature enables this product to produce the ultimate benefit for its user that no other item does? This can be a nutrient, equipment part, or other chemical.

If you find more than one, no problem, you can bundle them into one USP.

• Quality

This is a hard USP to beat. Problem is you can only use it if research proves your product is at the top in its class.

And the best proof? Clinical trials and testimonials from users during the research phase.

• Promoting the Big Promise

This popular proposition offers prospects a grand picture of what their life will be like once they get your product. This can either be an addition—say permanent power and peace of mind from yoga—or the opposite, such as life-long stress relief from a debt reduction DVD.

• Process

This definition is different than you’ll find in most marketing textbooks. Here, a process USP focuses on the novel way your customer receives your product’s benefits.

Faster? Less impact on joints? Easier to swallow?

• Price

This offer-based USP can succeed in a number of ways.

One, you make your price look puny compared to all the big changes your prospect will experience with your product.

Or you can minimize the price by saying, for example, “less than the dollar you spend daily for a cup of coffee.” You could also compare it to your competitor’s higher-priced items.

• Personalities

This is a bit tougher. But here you use the distinctive personality and experiences of the promotion writer as your USP.

This could be the doctor who’s furious at the medical mainstream, or a CEO who’s visited many a exotic place in search of business opportunities.

• Dosage

A few unscrupulous supplement merchants have hurt the industry by peddling products with low nutrient dosages. This, of course, explains why prospects often complain supplements don’t work.

You can counter this by SHOWING how your supplement or item has the exact amount needed. Having this clinically proven is best; doctor approved still works.

Oh yes, in this case, more is not always better.

• Guarantee

Reducing your prospect’s risk is expected nowadays—but reversing it? Unbeatable. Thirty-day guarantees may still work but they’re, well, stale.

If you want to amaze your potential customer, reverse their risk with a 120-day, one year, or forever guarantee. Then use that as your USP.

• Transubstantiation

Called the greatest copywriting secret ever, transubstantiation is also a valuable USP. Your focus here is on the striking result your product will give your customer rather than on its everyday use.

For instance, you’re not selling a hair-loss supplement that starts working in less than 30 days. No, you’re offering them a chance to recapture their manhood—and the eyes of all the hot women they meet—in under a month!

So there you go. Now all you have to do start creating your product’s new USP is to shift your research skills and imagination into gear.

Does the product under study surpass your competition in one of the above areas? Does it match our definition of a USP? If so, you’ve found your unique selling proposition.

Now that you’re aware of how critical it is that each of your product’s has a USP, you may want more information. And as crucial, see examples of USPs in action.

If you’re a marketing director, creative manager, or have a similar responsibility, you’ll want to look at, “Finding Your Self-Help Product’s Unique Selling Proposition: 9 Coveted Copywriting Secrets That’ll Catapult Your Products Above the Competition.”

This 24-page special report, the only material available for finding USPs for products specific to our market, is available ABSOLUTELY FREE. It also comes with a handy checklist to make your USP search faster and easier.

Just email your request to Dale L. Sims, freelance self-help copywriter, at bwater17@att.com.