Features are the properties of a product or service. The features of a car might be anti-lock brakes, leather seats, or rear-window defrost. Benefits, on the other hand, show how those features will actually be of benefit (hence the name) to the user. Anti-lock brakes keep you safe if you have to stop quickly. Leather seats are more durable and luxurious than cloth. In copywriting, benefits are much, much more important than features.
Let me show you a real-world example.

Stainless Steel Shaft or Priceless Cooking Tool?

Have you ever read a product brochure or Web page that sounded something like this?

The Braun Multiquick Hand Blender offers a 200-watt motor, stainless steel shaft, five-blade chopper attachment, and aerator head.

How do you feel when you read that description of the hand blender? It’s not very exciting, is it? The thought of a stainless steel shaft doesn’t really get your heart pumping and instill the thought that you need one of these hand blenders. That’s because the copy above focuses on the “what” of the product. Now read this version:

The Braun Multiquick Hand Blender has a powerful motor enabling you to chop, whip, puree and blend with lightning speed. Its stainless steel shaft holds up to years of use without bending or breaking. You’ll create delicious meals with ease and be out of the kitchen in record time.

The first example focuses on the “what” of the product… the features. It simply lists the nuts and bolts of what the physical product offers. However, the second copy example focuses on the “how” of the product… the benefits. These benefits show the reader how this product will make his/her life easier or better.

Focusing on the “what” and not the “how” of a product or service is a common mistake novice writers make. It is also a deadly mistake that can cost you sales. But how exactly do you create benefits out of features? Easily!

Five Easy Steps to Creating Powerful Benefits

Here’s my five-step process for turning boring features into eye-popping benefits. Let’s use the example of a marketing e-book for this practice session.

1. List the features of your product or service. (Created in PDF format, information on e-mail marketing, search engine optimisation, PPC ads, etc.)
2. List the concerns or needs of your customers. If you don’t know… ask them. (Finding affordable ways to promote their websites to bring in the most qualified traffic and increase sales.)
3. Ask yourself, “Why does this feature matter to my customer?” Write your answers on the list. (PDF format means both PC and Mac users can view the e-book. Search engine optimisation is one of the most effective, highly targeted tools there is… and it costs nothing once you learn how to do it.)
4. Take it one step further. Ask yourself, “What problem or concern can this feature address?” (Getting more qualified buyers to the reader’s website so they can buy)
5. Write down the benefit and you’re all done!

So, instead of writing copy about a marketing e-book that reads like this:

Move It or Lose It is an e-book for beginners that was created in PDF format. It covers the details of e-mail marketing, search engine optimisation, and PPC ads in order to bring you affordable marketing tools you can use.

…you can write copy like this:

Move It or Lose It was created especially for new online business owners and covers – in great detail – everything you need to know about the three most popular, economical, and effective marketing methods:

• Search engine optimisation: one of the most effective, highly targeted tools there is… and it costs absolutely nothing once you learn how to do it.
• E-mail marketing: extremely targeted… this marketing method brings in consistently high returns on investment.
• Pay-per-click (PPC) ads: not only inexpensive, but also quick and easy to set up.

Move It or Lose It is available for immediate download as a PDF file, meaning both PC and Mac users can take advantage of this powerful information.

Which one sparks your interest more?

When it’s time to write your next piece of advertising copy, take some time to develop a solid list of benefits. Focusing on the “how” instead of the “what” will practically guarantee a better response and more sales.

Guest Article written by Karon Thackston. Karon is owner of Marketing Words, and a professional advertising and search engine copywriter. Check out her online e-course at the Step-by-Step Copywriting Course.

Personally, I rank selling myself up there with paperwork and taxes. I’d rather be doing actual design work than making a sales pitch. I’d rather be doing just about anything else, for that matter. But success in business demands we master not only our own craft, but also those fields that we depend upon to stay afloat (and prosper). In my case, I’m helped along quite a bit by way of the fact that I also happen to have a university degree in psychology, so I’m able to mesh what I know about design with what I know about people.

And what I’ve learned about people is that they like being sold to, just about as much as they like selling. A lot of marketing firms like to aim for the lowest common denominator, which I find not only insulting and ineffective, but outright unnecessary. Screaming “BUY ME, DUMMY” at someone tends to have the opposite effect.

Writing good sales copy for advertising purposes is even more difficult. You need to compress your ten-page sales presentation into a few brilliant, effective and easily digested words.

Now, a lot of new businesses can’t afford a professional copywriter, though it’s not an area that should be overlooked or underestimated. IF you’re taking it upon yourself to craft your own sales copy, there are a few basic points to keep at the front of your mind.

Sales copy should be genuinely compelling.

Grab your audience’s attention with an effective, well thought out headline. What you’re saying is just as important as how you say it. Your message needs to be clear, attractive and relevant. And for heaven’s sake, don’t SHOUT.

Offer a clear incentive. This is your call to action. What do you want your audience to do? And just as importantly, Why should they? You need to be forthright and to the point, without being demanding, narcissistic or desperate.

Sweeten the deal. It sounds trite, but people love freebies. I’m not saying you should give away a free TV with every truck you sell (we actually did get a free TV with our vehicle – it’s a piece of garbage we could do without), but be sure to point out any added-value offerings that would make you stand out from your competitors.

So boiled down, we’re looking at three components:
• Entice
• Engage
• Extend

Think about the last ad that actually made you want to follow up, then deconstruct it.

Remember, your audience is you.

On the cover – don’t jump the gun.
Effective sales people don’t jump into the hard pitch on first contact – similarly, it doesn’t make sense to focus overtly or solely on your company on the brochure’s cover. Instead, focus on an idea that will endorse your company in the customer’s mind, and create a connection.

The copy should focus on your customer, not you.
The text in your brochure should make the customer feel that you understand and sympathize with their problems – after all, they’re seeking you out to fill THEIR needs, not to do you a favour. To your customer, the most important thing about your product or service is how it is of use to them. So, allow your brochure copy to answer all their questions and overcome all their objections. The copy should impart that personal touch to the customer. Brochure copy is sales stragety in writing… and in the world of ad copy, you need to build rapport before you can sell.

Hook your readers.
Bait is great, but without a good hook you’ll never bring that “fish” onto the boat. As it’s been said, every page in your brochure presents the reader with an opportunity to stop going on to the next page. Get their attention, and keep it with a combination of design and copy that is attractive, intriguing, and persuasive.

Sell the refreshment, not the drink.
You’ve put a lot of work into developing your company and products… so it will be very tempting to focus in on the details of all the fantastic features your company/product offers. And although it can be argued that brochures exist to explain features, in copy it’s best to sell those features through the benefits. And you can do this by using true to life examples, cases and applications.

Don’t lose your readers on technical points
This is one of the strongest reasons to seek out a professional copywriter. All too often, business owners find it too difficult to simplify their message for general consumption… because you’re so close to the product, it’s too easy to inadvertently drown your readers under a flood of technical jargon. Please, don’t do that to your prospects. If technical information is important to your particular product, it should only be presented in proper technical style (as a table chart or diagram) and not pushed down the throat of your reader through bewildering, incomprehensible language.

Establish credibility
Obviously, you want to make the best possible impression on your prospects. From a copywriting perspective, you can do this through tone and content, and by providing expert answers in simple English. Your grammer should be perfect, your composition well-considered, and your content relevant and genuinely compelling.

Keep it concise
Aside from those clients who come to us with no content ready whatsoever, perhaps one of the most perplexing problems we come across is those clients who provide us with a short novel of text to squeeze into six small brochure panes. If your prospects wanted to read a whitepaper on your company, they would ask for a whitepaper. The purpose of a sales brochure is to present a compelling, easy-to-digest overview of your company – it is not a medium in which to detail your overall business plan. Decide which points are the most important to present, and focus on those… if they are well written and presented in an artful way, they will compel your prospects to seek you out for more.

End with a call to action
Always, always end your copy with a call to action. You’ve built a rapport, you’ve outlined the benefits of your company to the customer – now simply and clearly tell the customer what you want them to do. In other words, if you want them to purchase, say, “Harold’s Widgets”, simply ask them for their order.

Writing good quality content for brochures is a vital requirement for any credible corporation. Remember you are not just selling brochure paper, you are selling yourself.

Sage Media is an international corporate design firm based in Ottawa, Ontario.