Engage Your Customer ? Write About Benefits

Think quick. In 10 seconds, can you list the 5 key benefits you offer your customers?

I bet you said "Yes". But are you sure you listed benefits? If you'll bear with me for another 10 seconds, I'd like to test out a theory on you.

Recap your answers ? maybe even write them down. Now list the 5 main things your business does. In other words, what are your 5 core services? What are the 5 core features of your product?

If your first list looks anything like your second, chances are you're mistaking features for benefits. As a result, it's likely that your marketing materials aren't engaging your customer. Customers don't want to know what you can do. They want to know what you can do FOR THEM.

Don't talk features ? talk benefits.

Don't be alarmed. You're not alone. Most business owners and marketing managers are so close to their product or service that they have a lot of trouble distinguishing benefits from the features of their offering. Ask a web host "what are the benefits of your service?", and you'll likely hear something along the lines of, "we offer load-balanced server clusters." But that's not a benefit? that's what they do. The benefit is superior uptime and performance.

In fact, so many people think features instead of benefits that it can work in your favour ? to dramatic effect. If you can accurately identify your benefits, and convey those benefits to your market, you'll be light-years ahead of most of your competition. You'll be converting leads into sales while they're still bogged down trying to promote features.

So if you've ever sat down to write a sales letter and wondered how you're going to grab your reader's attention, or you've ever gone 'round in circles writing draft after draft of web copy without ever hitting the mark, now you know where you were going wrong.

The only question remaining is, how do you do it right? Advertising copywriters and website copywriters do it all the time ? and most of the time, they do it with benefits. Benefits are the copywriter's holy grail. But if you're not a seasoned copywriter, how do you identify the benefits you offer your customers?

There are any number of ways to identify the benefits you offer. This article discusses just three:

1) Customer Research

2) Speak to Your Sales Team

3) Make it Easy for Your Customer to Get Buy-In

The method you choose depends on your time constraints, budget, and level of customer interaction.

1) Customer Research

The most obvious way to identify benefits is to ask your existing customers. They're spending a lot of money on your offering, so you can be sure they know what benefit they're getting from it. (In many cases, it can be handy to ask them what benefits they'd like to be getting from you too!) Unfortunately, like everyone else, your customers are busy people. In most cases, you won't get useful feedback by simply sending an email enquiry. You have to make it easy for them to respond, and you have to make it worth their while. Think about questionnaires and surveys for quantitative data, and interviews and focus groups for qualitative data.

These are the simplest techniques, but you still have to make sure you interpret the results appropriately. And always remember that they're self-report methods. People will sometimes tell you what they think you want to hear. (That's also why you have to word your questions very carefully ? try not to ask leading questions.) Of course, there are plenty of other research techniques around. Do a bit of homework and find the methods which best suit your business requirements. But don't get carried away by the possibilities. All the research data in the world is pointless if you're not talking the language of your customer.

2) Speak to Your Sales Team

Sadly, not every business can afford to invest in market research. If your budget doesn't stretch far enough, try talking to your sales people. They're out in the field every day, talking to customers. And because their livelihood depends on their success in engaging customers, chances are they'll be able to tell you what your customers want to know. (A word of warning, though? Be careful not to make lofty promises. Unlike your sales team, written collateral doesn't generate a rapport with your customers. Customers won't make as many allowances, so you can only stretch the truth so far in writing before your credibility suffers. What's more, if you do push the boundaries, you're more likely to be held to your word!)

3) Make it Easy for Your Customer to Get Buy-In

If you don't have the budget for in-depth customer research, and you don't have a sales team, a good tip is to imagine how your customer gets buy-in from their boss. Quite often, the decision maker is someone higher up the food chain than your direct audience. Your audience will probably be the key stakeholder ? they'll be the user of your product, or the recipient of your service. But when they find an offering they like, there's a good chance they'll have to sell it to someone further up the line. If you can make this sale easier, you'll have a foot in the door. Don't just appeal to the sensibilities of the direct audience.

You also need to ask yourself what they need to know to convince the decision maker. If the decision maker is a CFO, think Return on Investment (ROI) and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). If the decision maker is a CIO or MIS, think performance, technological sustainability, availability, manageability, and ease of integration. If the decision maker is a CEO, think liability, risk management, and ROI. And only use jargon to prove you know your stuff. Remember? jargon will probably have the ultimate decision maker scratching their head, not reaching for their cheque book.

There are many many more ways to identify benefits. This is just a very superficial snapshot of some techniques you might like to try. At the very least they'll get you thinking benefits.

In the end, the message is simple. Forget all the fancy talk about complicated revolutionary marketing principles. Forget new-age hard-sell advertising quick-fixes. Forget looking to so-called "experts" for solutions. Just think benefits. And if you can accurately do that, the rest is just mechanics. Once you know what you want to write about, you just need to put pen to paper. And that's a whole 'nother story!

Happy writing!

About The Author

* Glenn Murray is an SEO copywriter and Article Submission Specialist. He is a director of PublishHub and also of copywriting studio Divine Write. He can be contacted on Sydney +612 4334 6222 or at glenn@divinewrite.com. Visit http://www.divinewrite.com or http://www.publishhub.com for further details, more FREE articles, or to purchase his e-book, 'SEO Secrets'.

---

The Biggest Mistake Copywriters Make

Most of the sales pieces people ask me to rewrite... Read More

Its Time To Start That Swipe File

Just as great fiction is an art, so is great... Read More

Four Things Every Web Site Headline Must Do

As you know, I'm constantly making the point that the... Read More

Steps to a Writing an Effective Press Releases

Want to get the most media attention and spotlight for... Read More

3 Copywriting Tips - How To Edit For Mass Appeal!

Web copy that's intended to sell or generate leads needs... Read More

Custom Writing Services: Market Overview

Market identification Custom writing services market is a sector of... Read More

Top 3 Rules for Writing Effective Copy

One thing all successful Internet marketers have in common is... Read More

Beyond Once Upon a Time: Fairy Tales arent the Only Thing Needing Catchy Openings

Once a upon a recent time in a galaxy not... Read More

Why Is FREE The Most Powerful Marketing Word You Can Use?

As the famous cowboy Will Rogers once said, "Even if... Read More

Its Time To Start That Swipe File

Just as great fiction is an art, so is great... Read More

8 Reasons to Outsource Your Copywriting

Thinking of hiring a staff writer? Think again. Below, I... Read More

Copywriting: Secrets of a Freelancer

Lately, I've been getting emails from other copywriters who ask... Read More

7 Powerful Sales Copy Writing Techniques!

Your sales letter is the most important component in your... Read More

Website Advertising: 10 Tactics To Make Your Ad Copy More Impactful

If your ad is not generating a lot of sales,... Read More

Copywriting Goldmine: One of 20 Insider Secrets to Great Copywriting

Each weekday during my Red Hot Copywriting Bootcamp, attendees (or... Read More

Accelerate Your Freelance Copywriting Master Business Plan!

Ever wish for your own copywriting business?Ever wish you could... Read More

Are You Making These Press Release Mistakes?

You've done it. Gotten that press release written. Now you're... Read More

12 Copywriting Tips to Make Your Advertising More Profitable

Year after year people make the same mistakes in direct-response... Read More

The Secret to Web Copywriting Gurudom

Have you seen those copywriting gurus, working it on the... Read More

Its the Headline, Stupid! - Writing Powerful Headlines

"It's the headline, stupid," is the sign that hangs over... Read More

5 Critical Mistakes Most Freelance Copywriters Make

Think you have what it takes to be a freelance... Read More

Crank Out More Articles More Often With An Article Swipe File

If you write copy you need a swipe file. A... Read More

How to Write Profitable Ads

Regardless of how you look at it, the most important... Read More

How To Be Creative

Network marketing is an art as much as it is... Read More

Yale University Researchers Reveal The 12 Most Powerful Words In The Human Language...

In this article, I am going to reveal a dozen... Read More

Working With a Freelance Editor

If you are interested in creating information products, you will... Read More

8 Tips for Writing Headlines that Grab Attention (and Keep Prospects Reading!)

Effective headlines make all the difference in whether your prospect... Read More

11 Reasons Not to Hire a Freelance Copywriter (and Why Theyre All Poor Excuses)

Think you can take the Copywriting Challenge on your own?... Read More

Prevent Procrastination With Positive Pressure

My wife and I recently bought a house.It's currently being... Read More

Five Tips for Writing Eyeball-Grabbing Headlines

If you made it this far, the headline for this... Read More

Should You Use Testimonials When You Create A Web Site?

You've probably seen web sites with testimonials - they can... Read More

Headlines That Pull, Persuade and Propel!

When writing direct response copy, there are a few things... Read More

How To Test The Body Of Your Sales Copy For Weaknesses

Your sales copy is the life source of your business.... Read More