Your unique selling proposition (USP) represents how your products and services are different from and better than the competition’s. That’s why it’s critical to carefully craft a USP that accurately describes your brand, then promote it so your audience understands and remembers exactly why you’re the best choice.

Email marketing is a smart strategy for USP promotion (you should be building a targeted email list, after all), but how can you continually convey the same message without coming across as repetitive or spammy? With the following five tips for reinforcing your USP via email.

1. Include your USP in every email

The most direct way to reinforce your USP within emails is to simply state it at the top of every email. One way to do this without appearing repetitive is to incorporate your USP into your tagline and feature it under your logo or company name.

In the example below, you can see how Boden HQ uses a tagline under its logo to promote its USP in every email.

2. Align your email content with your USP

Reinforcing your USP can be subtler than simply restating it, and strategic email content is one of the best ways to illustrate how you’re different and better than competitors without repeating the same phrase ad nauseum.

Let’s say you own a doughnut shop and your USP is that you have the most delicious doughnuts in town. Your email content might feature awards you’ve won, customer spotlights (everyone raves your doughnuts) or an article about how you source only the best ingredients.

Or, let’s say you operate a style salon and your USP is that you have the region’s most skilled beauticians. Your email content might feature photos of client hairstyles and makeovers. Or, you might offer advice for hairstyles that fit certain face shapes, skin tones and hair types to establish your brand as the expert in hair.

Another example: You run a discount tire shop, and your USP is that you have the lowest prices on high-quality tires. Your email content might feature tips on how to choose the best tires for different seasons, vehicles and uses and then show your price alongside the slashed-out MSRP (Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price).

In each of these examples, you’re not rehashing your USP verbatim, but you’re still reinforcing your USP through content that aligns with your message.

3. Create offers that match your USP

Perhaps the most obvious way to reinforce your USP via email is to develop incentives, offers and other promotions that clearly illustrate your USP.

For example, our discount tire shop can send emails with big promotions that match its “lowest price in town” USP. Or, our salon might create an email advertising a special makeover package that comes with a 100 percent satisfaction guarantee (which demonstrates confidence that our stylists are the best).

When you develop your USP, you’ll think about what your audience will respond to. Your promotional emails should cater to those same passions, motives, desires and problems for natural alignment with your USP.

4. Choose images that suggest your USP

If you incorporate images into your emails, choose those which visually suggest your USP. For example, a doughnut shop should invest in professional food photography that helps showcase their doughnuts are pure mouthwatering goodness. By the same token, a salon could showcase the quality of their stylists’ work through customer spotlights.

When you select images for your emails, consider how they reinforce your USP. They don’t always need to be product photos or happy customers. For example, a project management software company might feature a graph that illustrates increased productivity when its product is adopted or a chart that compares project efficiency to a popular, underperforming competitor.

5. Don’t forget the subject line

Your USP should be a statement that intrigues customers, creates desire and makes them want to learn more. Sound familiar? Your subject line has the same goals, so it makes sense to craft subject lines that echo your USP.

Again, you shouldn’t repeat your USP verbatim (imagine getting six emails in a row that read “The Best Doughnuts in Durham”). Instead, craft provocative subject lines that imply your USP: “See What Ingredient Makes This Irish Cream Glaze So Scrumptious.”

Collectively, all these tips boil down to telling your story in an engaging way that resonates with your audience. You don’t need to repeat the same phrase time and again. In fact, it’s better to immerse your audience in your brand so they make lasting associations about why you’re the best option. Email is one of the best and most cost-efficient ways to do that, so follow the featured tips to reinforce your USP via email and foster lifelong brand loyalty.

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© 2019, Brian Morris. All rights reserved.