Karen Goldfarb, Copywriter » copywriter

Features versus benefits: Can we end this now?

Karen — Wed, 19 May 2010 04:19:07 +0000

On the very first day of Copywriter or Sales 101 class, you will hear the “features-versus-benefits” conflict. You will hear the professor say that people buy because of benefits. “Features tell but benefits sell” is a phrase that will likely be spoken. You’ll hear how features describe a product or service while benefits describe why someone would buy the product or service. I suspect that this features versus benefits discussion has been going on since the very first wheel was chipped out of stone and traded to another caveman in exchange for fire.

It’s a perennial discussion because people continue to get it wrong: Marketing gurus and sales geniuses (and even some DM copywriters) continue to promote features and ignore benefits as if hubcaps or a QWERTY keyboard would convince someone to buy.

So let’s end this now, shall we? It’s easy. Here’s how.

The simple addition of two little words can force you into thinking about benefits. Just by adding the words “which means” after every feature, you’ll push yourself out of “what” and into “why”.

“This car comes with hubcaps, which means your car will look better.”

“This computer comes with a QWERTY keyboard, which means you don’t need to learn a new keyboard configuration.”

Simple! By adding “which means” to your features, you force yourself to consider why it really matters to your customers and you’ll be able to communicate it more effectively. This works if you’re writing marketing copy or if you’re in a face-to-face selling situation.

But it doesn’t stop there. Adding “which means” just once might not be enough. In fact, as you prepare your marketing or sales presentation, add “which means” until you run out of things to say. Then you’ll have discovered the real reasons that people buy your product or service:

“This orange juice is loaded with vitamin C, which means you’ll get your daily requirement of vitamin c in just one glass of orange juice, which means you’ll be healthier without having to eat a whole bunch of other things that contain vitamin C, which means you’ll feel great and look great but save time, which means you’ll enjoy a longer, healthier, and more fruitful life doing the things you like to do.” Ergo, Vitamin C helps you enjoy a long and healthier life.

See how easy it is? Adding “which means” to your features will create powerful benefits statements, which means you’ll close more deals, which means you’ll earn more money, which means you’ll have money to spend on the things you like and you can retire sooner, which means you can move to Bermuda sooner than you thought possible. Ergo, adding “which means” can help you retire to Bermuda faster.

5 disturbing characteristics of a DM copywriter

Karen — Fri, 14 May 2010 23:04:40 +0000

Copywriters beware. If you’re reading this thinking you’re going to get lessons on copywriting, you won’t. See my earlier post about why this copywriter won’t write about copywriting.

Instead, I’m going to give you a quick peek into the (potentially alarming) psyche of your DM copywriter:

We study you. Constantly. Always. Looking for what makes you tick, what it takes to get you to do what “we” (aka, our clients) want. In the nicest possible, most constructive way, of course. And you means you. Because everyone is our target audience, some way, somehow. Including you.
We crave offers. Not just those you make to us (although those are fantastic), but those we can make to your audience. Because a good offer makes it about 80 trillion times easier to get them to take the action you want them to take. Which makes our job 80 trillion times easier. Period.
We’re always selling. Selling is in a DM copywriter’s blood. We’re always looking at the angles, figuring out the opportunities. In every brainstorm session, every meeting, on the phone, and in day-to-day life. Doesn’t matter where or when. In fact, if I truly billed you for all the time I think about your business, you wouldn’t be able to afford me. Because I’m always thinking about your business, and how to get you more. A DM copywriter can’t help it.
We can be pushy. I recently wrote a direct email for a client that got a 6% open rate (hooray!) but a .2% conversion (sadness!). The client asked me for a rewrite and I wrote not one, not two, but three distinctly new drafts, then pushed them to test at least two, which they’re doing. We will push you to test. Why? See #5.
We see it all as a game. Which is a good thing, because people who like to play games like to win. Any DM copywriter worth her salt wants to get or beat the metrics you set. We want to win. Which means you win.

If you’re looking for a DM copywriter and can live with these peculiarities, you’ll find yourself in good company. Or at least, in the company of someone who can help you get success.

Why this copywriter will never write an article about copywriting

Karen — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 07:41:18 +0000

There, did I say copywriting enough times that Google crawls it and thinks I am one? Great, now that that’s out of the way.

Here’s the deal. If you need a copywriter, you don’t need an article about 10 tips on copywriting. Like, if you need a heart surgeon, you don’t need an article about 10 ways to perform a vascular suture. You need someone who’ll get in there, assess the damage, fix it, and make you better than you were before.

Better. Stronger. Faster.

(For those of you who didn’t grow up in the 70s, that’s a Six Million Dollar Man reference. You know, back when $6 million was a lot of money and we built cyborgs with it.)

What you really want is someone who is a student of the human condition. Why? Because all the people reading these ones and zeroes are still people. They’ve only been around this whole Internet thing for the last decade or so. Not that long.

Measure that against emotions and instincts that have developed over billions of years. (Evolutionarily speaking, of course. If you follow the Bible literally, that’s 10,000 years or so. Still a lot longer than 10.)

You also want someone who is a student of marketing strategy.

Marketing strategy is a combination of rules, insight, attitude, application of said attitude and adjustment to results. Many of the best rules come from direct marketing, of which I’ve been a student for 20 years and counting.

This whole Internet and social media thing has more in common with direct marketing than anything else. It’s about making offers and getting them accepted. (Do I offer to follow you? Do you offer to follow me? What’s in it for each of us?) Brevity or length and knowing where to use which (Twitter vs. blogging, anyone?). Testing and measuring (try something, see if it works. Refine. Repeat.). Structuring arguments, engagement (still with me?).

All good direct marketing skills.

If you want 10 tips that include things like when to use subheads, or how to write a winning headline, there are lots of places to get that.

But that’s not what you need, is it?