From: Direct Response - Digest of Direct Marketing
Publisher’s Corner

Here’s a guaranteed way for you to sell more of your products or services and make a lot more money…

Stress BENEFITS instead of FEATURES every time you create magalog advertising copy!

Far too many direct mailings, ads, Web sites, and other types of advertising try to sell products and services with FEATURES instead of BENEFITS.

More often than not, the results are DISASTROUS FAILURES…or at least fall short of their potential. And it’s simply because copywriters do not know how to convert FEATURES into BENEFITS.

Benefits are advantages your buyers receive by buying your products or services…while features are merely characteristics of your merchandise or service.

BENEFITS SELL by promising and convincing your buyers exactly WHAT your products or services will do for them.

FEATURES DO NOT SELL ANYTHING!

Some examples of features are “large capacity,” “compact size” and “low price.” When translated into benefits, these features could become “holds 20% more laundry,” “installs in a tiny area”…“priced so low almost everyone can afford it!”

FEATURES pertain to the product or service. BENEFITS tell the buyers what the FEATURES do for them.

Just follow these few easy rules to convert your FEATURES into BENEFITS…and increase your sales and profits dramatically as a result…

Rule #1

Add the magic of the word “you” and an appropriate verb in front of the FEATURE

Thus the FEATURE “low price” becomes the BENEFIT, “you save lots of money with our low price.”

Rule #2

Decide exactly HOW your buyers will benefit from the most important FEATURES of your product or service…and tell them how these FEATURES BENEFIT them

If you are selling an extremely compact pocketknife, your benefit could be: “slips into your pocket easily because it is so tiny.”

If you are selling a high quality set of precision golf clubs, your benefit could be “highest precision and extreme accuracy help you lower your score.”

Rule #3

Determine your prospects' exact needs and desires…so you can give them the right kind of compelling copy that makes them want to buy from you

Figure out precisely: What do your buyers want? What are their goals? What makes them most happy?

For example, with a less expensive, more powerful vacuum cleaner the “you+” method produces the BENEFIT, “you can save with our low prices.”

The “what do they do with it?” method becomes, “finish your vacuuming in less time with our stronger suction.”

With the “what you want” method, saving money earns prospects’ praise from their spouses. Getting the vacuuming completed faster could mean more time to spend with their children.

Rule #4

Make sure you determine exactly what your BENEFITS should be so you don't get them confused with FEATURES

Life insurance companies refer to the money they pay to beneficiaries as “BENEFITS.”

A $100,000 insurance policy payoff is a FEATURE not a BENEFIT!

The buyer’s sense of security in purchasing an insurance policy is really the BENEFIT. The buyer knows that he/she is going to feel more secure regardless of what happens.

The family can continue to pay the mortgage. They can pay for the children’s educations, or for whatever else the policy was purchased to pay for.

Rule #5

Put yourself in your buyer's shoes before you write one word of copy

Just imagine that someone else is trying to sell your product or service to you. What BENEFITS should they mention to convince you to buy it?

What order should these benefits be in? How should they be presented for the most successful sales story?

What STRONGEST BENEFIT should be the “clincher” that closes the sale?

Use the valuable information you glean by imagining that someone else is trying to sell your product or service to you…and put all this information into strong selling copy!

Rule #6

Make sure you follow these same rules when you are selling business to business

For example, don’t just make a claim that a copier will duplicate 100 copies a minute because that’s a FEATURE…not a BENEFIT.

Instead, tell your prospects they will get their work done faster, their offices will run more smoothly and efficiently, their jobs will be easier, they’ll get home earlier every night, and they’ll impress their bosses.

I’ll be glad to talk to you about these powerful marketing tools. One of them could provide you with the marketing breakthrough you’ve been looking for. Please call me at (310) 212-5727 or e-mail me at craig@cdmginc.com.