Quick Tip:
Digging Out the Deeper Benefits
Understanding features vs. benefits is one of the first – and most important – lessons many copywriters learn. Features tell, but benefits sell.
But separating your product’s features from its benefits is just the first step. And that first step is where the average copywriter often stops. To put your copy over the top, you have to identify the benefits that really push your prospect’s emotional hot buttons.
These powerful benefits often aren’t obvious. You have to dig a little to find them. But the power they add to your copy is well worth the effort.
Here’s an example:
Michelin makes steel-belted radial tires. “Steel-belted” and “radial” are features. It’s useful information, but won’t sell tires to the average Joe.
One direct benefit of steel-belted radials is that they grip the road better than “ordinary” tires. That’s a benefit … but it’s not very exciting, is it?
Tires that grip the road better are also superior performers in emergency maneuvers. Now we’re getting somewhere.
But Michelin took their advertising one critical step further a few years back. Remember their ads with happy babies sitting inside tires? The message was clear: “Your precious family will be safer if you use Michelin steel-belted radials.”
Brilliant! The campaign sold boatloads of Michelin tires.
Here’s the trick to going from “steel-belted radial tires” to “protecting your precious family”:
Simply keep asking, “Which means?” Like this …
- Michelin makes steel-belted radial tires.
“Which means?”
- They grip the road better than ordinary tires.
“Which means?”
- They perform better in emergency maneuvers.
“Which means?”
- They protect your family in critical driving situations.
Bingo! Now you have a benefit that pushes your prospect’s emotional hot buttons – and helps your copy stand out from the pack.
How to Land Clients in 21 Days with Just Your Computer
How do I land my first client? It’s a question every aspiring freelancer asks eventually. Now, there’s a proven system for landing clients that removes the guesswork. Best of all? No cold calling. Learn More »
“While no job anywhere is secure these days, Michigan, where I live, has been particularly hard-hit. My copywriting income has definitely increased our peace of mind in a very uncertain economy.”
If yes, you could be in big demand, earning big money, writing just a few hours a day from anywhere in the world you choose to be.
Get Nick Usborne’s step-by-step system for creating money-making information websites.
In just 6 hours and 35 minutes, you can be in business earning $60 – $150 an hour writing simple resumes.
Learn the secrets behind succeeding in this in-demand career.
The work is plentiful … the pay scales are generous and the competition is scarce!
Get the answers to the hundreds of questions and concerns commonly asked in specific, step-by-step details.
Use this eight-step plan to make the leap from aspiring copywriter to professional copywriter this year.
Let your fellow AWAI members show you firsthand the easiest, most powerful way to land your first client … BEFORE you finish the program.
Writing for the web is a huge opportunity for copywriters. Let web expert Nick Usborne show you how to write blockbuster web copy in record time … even if you're a complete internet “rookie”!
It’s an opportunity to make $50,000, $75,000, $100,000 a year or more … working just a few hours a day.
A once complicated profession is now something you can do on a standard computer – even if you have little or no “artistic” ability.
It’s one thing to have a website. But if your website can’t be found by the search engines, it may as well not exist.
The Internet creates new income possibilities every day. The biggest among them: online video marketing.
Get the very techniques top-performing copywriters use to rattle off one groundbreaking control after another.
In his new book, Michael Masterson teaches you his very own formula for powerful persuasion and how to apply it to direct mail sales letters as well as online promotions.
I enjoyed it, thanks.
YorkyMom – June 28, 2010 at 3:03 pm
Challenging your own content is the best way to develop the benefits. Whereas Malcolm uses the term "Which means.." I use the term "So what?" Works every time. Great tips from AWAI.
jersey shore writer – August 19, 2010 at 1:26 pm