You start the day worried that all the features you want to bring your customers have been done, usually better
and faster, by some suma-wrestler like Google, or Yahoo or Ebay. But let me assure you that because
you have
identified your USP (your unique selling proposition)
EVERYTHING YOU DO IS ORIGINAL. If it isn't, then
you never did pin down that USP!
If you have differentiated yourself from the competition, by style or feature
or patent or method or strategy, then even if you assemble a site or a promotion with similar elements (a headline, a link,
a landing page, some key search engine terms, a search box, a visitor counter and Paypal) it will have its unique feel for your
visitor.
Your USP Has Never
Been Presented Before
If a prospect is going to be a great one for you and
he's reading your site or promotion, he's going to be very interested in what you have to offer. He doesn't
think, "Hmmmm. I've seen one of these email promotions before." No. He thinks, "Hey! I've never
ever read about anything like this before! I've gotta forward this to Linda!" It's what you
say and describe and tease and tickle and accent and underscore and point to and tell and sample and sell that matters.
Originality is actually quite easy to achieve because no configuration of brand attributes, USP, benefits, headlines,
key search terms or strategies can be completely identical (well, okay there are copycats but they are breaking laws).
Enough ethics and philosophy (my house is full of it with teenage debaters run amok).
Rest assured, originality
isn't the challenge. Good grief. Any dim-witted, award-chasing, agency designer can fret over a Martini in
his overpriced-glass-studio-overlooking-the-river about
originality. A good copy writer doesnt' fret though,
because she is here to
sell widgits, and every creative and passionate selling argument or strategy is
breathtakingly original to the needy prospect. That's who matters.
