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COMMERCIALS THAT CONFUSE, CONFOUND AND SELL NOBODY ANYTHING
I may be missing something, here, but it seems to me that, in advertising terms, the loonies have taken over the asylum. What is getting me all lathered up is the preponderance of TV commercials that go out of their way, not only to confuse their...
Copywriting Makeover: Know Where Your Customers Are In The Buying Process Part 2 of 2
by Karon Thackston © 2004 http://www.copywritingcourse.com In part one of this article series, I introduced a client of mine (AEwebworks) who suffered from some copywriting traumas. The basic diagnosis was a lack of synergy within the copy,...
Hello Niche Marketing Enthusiasts
Hello niche marketing enthusiasts,
I am fairly new to the niche marketing community but have been studying and following along for about a year now. I've started my own blog but like to take the time to visit others. The blogs I have found are...
How to Get B2B Clients: A Primer for Copywriters
In more than 20 years of copywriting for both
business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B)
clients, I have found mid-size and large B2B clients to be
generally easier to work with, and more professional than B2C.
(I do not recommend...
Three ways journaling can boost your creativity and your business
I have a friend who has struggled with her creativity for a long time. She's extremely uncomfortable thinking of herself as "creative." We've been working together on it, and making progress. One of the tools that's really helped her has been...
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Features vs. Benefits - The Mystery Revealed
This article may be reprinted provided the resource box's, Web address's and copyright information remain.
Whenever someone mentions advertising or sales you can be sure the phrase "features vs. benefits" will come up in short order. Everyone knows that phrase. Everyone knows that features don't sell, benefits do. However, exactly what is a benefit and how do you turn features into them?
Let's get some definitions set forth first. A feature is an attribute of a product or service. Web site hosting companies will often tell you there package offers "catch all" email addressing. That's a feature. That type of email is a mechanical part of the hosting package.
To determine the benefit, you look at how the catch all email adds value to the customer. In other words, "What's in it for me"?
The customer doesn't care about the mechanical feature of the hosting. What they do care about is how the catch all email can improve their life. Catch all email allows anything typed before the "@domainname.com" to go through the system and make it to the "primary" email box. The benefit of catch all email is that even messages with a misspelling in them make it through so you stay in contact with your customers. Every online business owner cares about that.
One of the most effective ways to derive benefits from features is to address problems or concerns your customers have. Let's turn our attention to the ebook industry for a moment and define some concerns these customers might have.
When publishing an ebook, the concern is primarily about getting the information across to readers. It needs to be in a format they can readily access. While reading the sales copy for some ebook compilers, the phrase "no reader required" came up. This is a feature. It didn't mean much to me until I read the benefit
The benefit of "no reader required" is that the software is complete within itself. Unlike some ebook compilers that require the
ebook purchaser to download special software in order to view the book, this feature offered the benefit of being all-inclusive. As soon as the book was downloaded, the customer could begin reading without further delays. That spoke to the concern and answered the question, "What's in it for me".
As you can probably tell by now, the benefits are what make a difference to your customer. The benefits - more or less - explain why the feature is important. This is why benefits have selling power and most features do not.
Here are a few steps you can use when working with the features vs. benefits equation:
1. List the features of your product or service. (Catch All Email.)
2. Next, list the concerns or needs of your customers. If you don't know… ask them. (Being able to get emails even if misspellings or other mistakes occur.)
3. Next, ask yourself, "Why does this feature matter to my customer"? Write your answers on the list. (Catch all email allows you to stay in touch with your customers.)
4. Finally, take it one step further. As yourself, "What problem or concern can this feature address"? (You can know that any email sent to anyname@domainname.com will make it through to you.)
5. Write down the benefit.
By explaining your sales information in language the customer can understand you are helping them reach the point of purchase more quickly. So, the next time you create an ad, be sure to focus on the information that's important to your customers… benefits.
About the Author
Butch Pujol offers a safe haven for online business owners. Whether you're a Newbie or a Pro, you'll find legitimate and safe Internet business solutions and tools that can help your company grow. Visit http://www.safeinternetbusiness.com today.
Karon Thackston is President of KT & Associates who offers targeted copywriting, advertising assistance and ezine article services. Karon's Web site is located at http://www.ktamarketing.com.
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