If you’re not familiar with the jargon, a unique selling proposition (USP) is what makes you different from other people in your field, and preferably what makes you more valuable than the other guy in the eyes of your ideal buyer.

I once attended a marketing workshop where the mere mention of finding your USP made everyone look like they were about to undergo root canal. It can be a tough thing to come up with, especially if you overthink it.

So how do you come up with your USP without trying?

When I decided to launch this site, I tried to do it all myself, without spending a dime. WordPress is a free add-on with the web hosting package I already have, and I can do a little graphic design.

Except I lost my graphic design chops somewhere, probably in the midst of designing jewellery and putting siding on my house. Everything I came up with was awful. So I decided to spend some money and hire a real graphic designer.

We negotiated a shoestring agreement that involved me cooling my jets while the designers fit my job in with their other work. I had a meeting with the lead designer, who I knew from working in the same office years ago, but the people who would be creating my logo and header didn’t know me. All they would have was the photograph I sent, and a short description about what I wanted to do with the site. Part of the deal was I had to trust them to get it right in one shot, rather than provide me with a couple of options.

I wrote a pretty good design brief. But while giving it a final once-over, I started to get nervous. Would they get my personal style from the material I sent? Best not leave it to chance (I’m also a detail fanatic with control freak tendencies and a slight neurosis about money). At the beginning of the email I wrote this:

“Style note—in case anyone’s wondering—the colour pink triggers my gag reflex. I am not a girly-girl. I last donned a dress in 1998. When a friend referred to it as drag, I gave up and now I use pantyhose to strain old paint.”

If I’d been asked to include my USP as part of the design brief, I would have agonized over it. I already had a strong sense of my USP, but to put it into a short statement would have been much harder than what I did by accident—describe my style using my style. I inadvertently told them and showed them at the same time.

I was a little surprised when my designer remarked on my sense of humor. I wasn’t trying to be funny when I wrote the style note; the simple truth is I was freaking out about getting something that was totally wrong for me, and freaking out about trying to break into a crowded niche. I was just being myself.

Everybody and their dog is a marketing expert these days, and everybody and their dog is starting their own business. For a solo gig like this, personality and writing style are important. They’re part of my USP (the other part is I don’t hold a business degree or come from an administration background. I’m a real live artist with a business brain).

So my advice, if you don’t have your USP sorted out, is to send someone—either a willing volunteer or yourself—an email. Say what you do, how you do it, who you do it for, where you do it, if it’s someplace interesting. Don’t edit or overthink, just write a note as if you were telling someone, “Hey, guess what I’m doing these days?” Then see what jumps out at you.

And if that exercise gave you a headache, let me know. I have a drawing board just waiting for new challenges. If you have a strategy of your own, feel free to leave a comment.

Here’s how I do it: a feature is the bright shiny thing. A benefit is what it does for you. So your MP3 player has massive storage capabilities. That’s a feature. The benefit? You have tons of songs to listen to, and they all fit in your pocket.

So how does this work for creatives?

When you’re selling a service, try focusing on action words: faster, easier, user-friendly, accurate, stress-reducing. In other words, what does your service do for your customer?

If you’re a painter, potter, or musician, the benefits are more about an experience: the prestige of owning an original work of art, the pleasure of eating rice out of a handmade raku bowl, or the thrill of a song that moves you. The features here are the original artwork, the handmade bowl and the original song. The benefits are prestige and pleasure. Not as concrete as a pocketful of records in a tiny device, but quality of life is important to humans.

Customers want to know about benefits. They want to know what they get from you will make their lives better. Knowing the difference between features versus benefits will help you focus on how to make a meaningful connection with your potential customer.

Clear like crystal, or clear as mud?