One cool thing about being a content marketer is that you tend to become an expert in your topic. You probably know an awful lot about your business, your project, or your subject matter. In fact, you might actually know too much about it. It’s called the curse of knowledge. Because we research our topics deeply and spend so much time writing about them, we tend to understand the technical specs inside and out. We have a great grasp of the under-the-hood details that make the thing work. And we think customers want to know all about those details. But most of your potential buyers? They don’t care. What have you done for me lately?To be effective, marketing needs to show exactly what the offering does for the person buying it. The features of your offer are what make it work. The benefits are the results it creates for the customer. What transformation does your product or service empower? What does it allow the customer to become that she isn’t today? Jimmy Choo high heels aren’t coveted because they’re comfortable or well-made. (Even though devotees believe they are.) Women buy them to feel confident and gorgeous. Hybrid cars aren’t popular because they’re fuel-efficient, money-saving, or environmentally friendly. The real benefits are feeling virtuous and smart, with the warm, fuzzy glow that comes from believing you’re saving the world.
The five-minute feature checkQuick, take a look through the last persuasive piece you wrote (blog post, sales page, podcast script) and take note of all of the features you talk about.
Copy and paste them all into a fresh document. Then, after each feature, add the words:
The final results will be phrases like:
In about five minutes, you’ll uncover the weak spots in your persuasive content — the places where you were thinking about you and what you offer, and not about them and what they get out of it. You might not use the words “so you can” over and over again in your final copy — but you will be writing with an understanding of your audience benefits. Not all benefits are equalThe curse of knowledge can also lead you to focus too much on what some copywriters call fake benefits. These are the benefits of your product or service that you think are important. And you might be absolutely right. They could be critical to delivering the results your audience wants. The trouble is, the customer doesn’t particularly care. These could be things like:
But that doesn’t tell us what the buyer gets to have, do, be, feel, or become by moving forward with this purchase. What those customers might actually want could be to:
Features do matterFeatures are the specific, convincing details that demonstrate why your solution is effective. As long as they’re tied directly to customer-focused benefits, your buyer will stay interested. Here are some features that have been translated into benefits and presented as a set:
Take another look at your five-minute benefit check. Any fake benefits in there? Wants, not needsYou’ve got one more check to make before you call it good. Are the benefits you’ve identified things your audience genuinely wants, or are they things you think they need?
When you’re translating your features into benefits, make sure those benefits are driven by wants. Look for emotional drivers like pleasure, comfort, status, and self-image. You can also seek to put a stop to pain, either physical or emotional. It’s not only hedonistic emotions that can drive behavior — values like patriotism, justice, and fairness can play powerful roles with the right audience. It’s still a pretty good idea, though, to pair them with a little self-interested hedonism if you can. Fair-trade coffee wouldn’t sell nearly as well if those arabica beans didn’t taste so good. We like to think that logical drivers like efficiency, physical health, preventing future problems, and scientific evidence influence our decisions, but, they typically don’t have much impact. But those “rational” benefits are helpful when they’re used to justify an emotional decision that’s already been made. The customer who already wants the beautiful high-heeled shoes tells herself that Jimmy Choos will last longer and feel better than a cheaper brand. The customer who already wants to feel enlightened and virtuous tells himself that the fuel economy of the Prius clearly makes it a sensible choice. Marketing vs. manipulationThere’s an important difference between putting your best foot forward and crossing the line into manipulation. The key lies in making two promises:
The impression you create with your marketing needs to be realistic and truthful. If it isn’t, you’re a con artist and a creep — and your audience will rightly shun you when they figure that out. If you liked this Quick Copy Tip, click here to read other posts in the series. The post Boost the Relevance of Your Content with Benefits and Features appeared first on Copyblogger. via Copyblogger http://ift.tt/2vaQ7Hg
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