As marketers, we always talk about the unique selling proposition. What benefits and features make my product so unique that it stands out in the marketplace?

However, the market has become saturated. Today, the USP has become almost meaningless.

How many products out there have the same features? Let’s take for example, shoes. From Nike, to Puma, to Adidas. All these shoes can make you jump higher… accelerate your athletic abilities…but what’s the big deal? How different can a shoelace be? Is there really a unique feature? That’s the first thing I learned when I joined advertising – that the USP is dead.

We’re in a new capitalist era in which we are bombarded with new products and new businesses exploding everyday in a sea of competitors. The key here is to highlight and amplify the differences between products in the same niche.

The question you probably ask yourself every time you want to launch a new product is this: How do I stand out when I am in the midst of a sea of products – offering the same features and benefits?

What are the alternatives to a dying USP?

The USP has transitioned into the UEP – the unique emotional proposition. The progression has gone from "what does this product do?" to "how does this product make me feel?"

With the exception of perhaps technical products – where technological advances often do have a USP, UEP is becoming increasingly more and more important.

But do you know what? UEPs are already common in the branding world! As the UEP becomes saturated, a new marketing trend is emerging; the USP that gets you asking, "Who I Am?" It’s the unique spiritual proposition.

However, most people won’t reach this level in the next few years, but a lot of good branding you see has the U-Spiritual-P edge and this will likely become more common in future.

The progression from ‘how I feel’ to ‘who I am’ – defining one’s inner being – is almost subtle:

USP (what does this product do?) –>

UEP (what does this product make me feel?) –>

USP (how does this product determine who I am?).

Let’s go back to the shoe example. You don’t hear pitches like ‘these shoes make you 100% faster’, or ’1000% more productivity with your feet’. No, marketing now taps into one’s inner core.

• Nike says: Just do it.
• Adidas: Impossible is nothing.
• And even Reebok: I am what I am.

The key now is, don’t only think of a USP for your products. Always come up with a UEP as well. It’s the only way to keep abreast of today’s online market.

It’s a fascinating concept and has to do with the idea of positioning yourself as a maven and being “different” from the norm.

I found Jimmy and Travis so fascinating that I whipped out my camera in the middle of dinner at a fancy restaurant in Orlando and asked them to explain Gravitational Marketing in 6 minutes to my blog audience.

Take a look. And watch out for my shot of Jimmy’s business card. It’s the single most effective and creative and memorable business card I’ve ever seen. His card itself sold me on his abilities as a marketer and brand-guru

More on Travis and Jimmy at their blog GravitationalMarketing.com.

Ok, now, here’s a little illumination before we get down and dirty.

The most powerful force in marketing is buzz (which is why should consider a prelaunch process for every product you release). How exactly is buzz built? I’ve broadly defined buzz as the emergence of a common topic among the collective conversations humans are having with each other at a given point in time.

When you and I learn that Harry and Sally are talking about the same product launch as us, and then hear about another pair, and another… we become a part of the Buzz.

Almost all buzz is good buzz.

Now ask yourself, when you are about to make a decision (literally at the brink of it), what question is in your head? What are you thinking about?

What can seal the decision for you?

I would suggest that one of the most powerful influences would be hearing from someone else very similar to you that has already made the purchase and can thus share the same good results hopefully that you are looking for.

That’s social proof.

That’s seeing someone else making (or already made) the same decision you’re about to make.

That’s something to be a part of.

Social proof appeals to our natural, very basic instinct to be a part of something; a pack, a group, or a larger social unit. We’re hard wired to desire this – it’s pure, beautiful human nature.

Don’t believe me? What do you do before you buy something? Look for reviews or others’ opinions. Bam. Social Proof.

And you can use this nugget to help people find their justification for buying your product.

Kinds of Social Proof

Implied celebrity endorsement

This one should be handled with care, but can help when done right. Let’s say you’re marketing skating shoes, and you sell the same kind Tony Hawk (celebrity skate boarder) uses. Somewhere in your scheme you could mention "the same shoes used by Tony Hawk."

This shows the buyer that the product is good enough for Tony Hawk. If it’s good enough for the stars in your niche, it’s probably good enough for the hobbyist.

Testimonial case study

Do your testimonials explain specific results? Instead of using a 3-sentence endorsement, what if you studied a client and then showed exactly what they employed from your product, why it worked, and how they could build on it?

This becomes much more than the "Product X rocks and you should buy it!" or "I used Product Z and saw a 10% boost!" The 2nd option isn’t bad, but the specificity and thoroughness of a case study may be just what the doctor ordered.

A 2nd form of this is the before/after/after model. Ask a client how they were doing before your product, how things improved immediately after, and then long term benefits. For example:

I was making 10 sales a week before buying Magic Marketing. Two weeks after purchasing I was already up to 18 sales a week and now, 8 weeks after purchasing my average week sees 23 sales! My sales more than doubled from Magic Marketing and I’m still learning more!

This highlights immediate and long term improvements, which will speak to a wider audience.

Normal testimonial

(Might as well mention it.) You should pepper all sales materials with the positive feedback your customers have given you.

Quantity-related social proof

Not many people think of this one, but it can take your life from Good to Super Sweet.

The idea is to have a visual representation of the quantity being sold, or to have a limit in the quantity available. As a side note, be sure to justify a limited quantity, especially if it is a digital product.

A few ways to do this:

• Show an image of the physical products or a screenshot of a report showing unit number (something like that)
• Tell your audience the site will go down once you’ve sold out
• Decrease the number available at the last minute (figure out a reason why)
• Use a countdown for products available
• Limited quantity bonuses

These items, especially the limited quantity bonus, give you a reason to email your list:

Just so you know, the first 100 that included the bonus have already sold out, so you better get moving and purchase!

All these quantity displays show that others are buying, proving to the lead that other people are making the plunge and they are not alone.

Blog Comments

If you run a blog around your product or blog, make comments easy to find. You could even highlight some of them or use them as testimonials. If you run a blog, remember that people almost always scroll down right away to see comments – immediately looking for social proof that the post is worthwhile.

Different ways to collect and show social proof

Host a call and let users message in questions that you then answer on the call

1. Ask your customers for stories of extremely awesome conquest (really great outcomes), then send them out and challenge others to send in their own reports. This not only gives social proof, but also encourages consumption.
2. If you send out an email blast to your list and get questions, you can use those questions as social proof in future emails ("so and so asked this great question… here’s the answer")
3. Casually show the number of times something was downloaded, or a post was viewed, number of people watching, etc

For the record…

Yes, you can overdo it. Once it becomes unbelievable you are then only hurting yourself. Finding the balance is key.

How To Place Testimonials & Other Forms of Social Proof

Key point: when someone looks through testimonials (or whatever social proof) they are trying to find a testimonial by "themselves" or someone like them.  They’re looking for the easiest touch point to relate to, so the most influential social proof are the ones from their same peer group.

Or, they may be looking for proof that something works. To help give your benefit or feature list more IMPACT, follow it with a testimonial attesting to the result. If I’ve got a tool with a key automation feature, right after listing it I’d throw down a testimonial from someone who saved a boat load of time.

Another example would be putting a testimonial in your sign-up form from someone who loved your free lessons.

Place your testimonials so they are directly related to the minute context of that part of your sales message.

What if you don’t currently have a community?

If you’re launching a new product, don’t have yet have a community, or have weak testimonials, how do you collect & show social proof?

CREATE IT.

Use the number of opt-ins, number of times people Google a key niche-related search term, or something else to create a peer group on the fly.

Your audience’s common interest in your niche is enough to mold a community out of it. You just have to get a little creative (gasp!).

Highlighting the existence of this peer group will act as social proof and build further buzz around your product.

Let’s Wrap it up Here

When you’re crafting your social proof remember these key points:

• Social proof is most effective when given by someone similar to the reader; similar "situation," similar interests, and reaching a similar desired outcome.
• Social proof is more than testimonials
• People want to be a part of a group and that group/community is inherent social proof that other people are doing or purchasing something the target wants