What is advertising? part 3

Emphasize Benefits, Not Features
What are features? They are descriptions of what qualities a product
possesses.
• The XYZ car delivers 55 miles per gallon in the city.
• Our ladder’s frame is made from a lightweight durable steel
alloy.
• Our glue is protected by a patent.
• This database has a built-in data-mining system.

And what are benefits? They are what those features mean to your
prospects.
• You’ll save money on gas and cut down on environmental
pollutants when you use our energy saving high-performance
hybrid car. Plus, you’ll feel the extra oomph when you’re
passing cars, courtesy of the efficient electric motor, which they
don’t have!
• Lightweight durable steel-alloy frame means you’ll be able to
take it with you with ease, and use it in places most other
ladders can’t go, while still supporting up to 800 pounds. No
more backaches lugging around that heavy ladder. And it’ll last
for 150 years, so you’ll never need to buy another ladder again!
• Patent-protected glue ensures you can use it on wood, plastic,
metal, ceramic, glass, and tile…without messy cleanup and
without ever having to re-glue it again—guaranteed!
• You can instantly see the “big picture” hidden in your data, and
pull the most arcane statistics on demand. Watch your business
do a “180” in no time flat, when you instantly know why it’s
failing in the first place! It’s all done with our built-in datamining
system that’s so easy to use, my twelve year-old son
used it successfully right out of the box.
I just made up those examples, but I think you understand my point.
By the way, did you notice in the list of features where I wrote “steel
alloy?” But in the benefits I wrote “steel-alloy” (with a hyphen). Not
sure off-hand which one is correct, but I know which one I’d use.
Here’s why: you are not writing to impress your English teacher or
win any awards. The only award you’re after is your copy beating the
control (control being the best-selling copy so far), so take some
liberty in grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure. You want it
to be read and acted upon, not read and admired!
But—back to benefits…

If you were selling an expensive watch, you wouldn’t tell your reader
that the face is 2 inches in diameter and the band is made of leather.
You show him how the extra-large face will tell him the time at a
glance. No sir! He won’t have to squint and look foolish to everyone
around him trying to read this magnificent timepiece. And how about
the way he’ll project success and charisma when he wears the
beautiful gold watch with its handcrafted custom leather band? How
his lover will find him irresistible when he’s all dressed up to go out,
wearing the watch. Or how the watch’s status and beauty will attract
the ladies.
Incidentally, did you notice how I brought up not squinting as a
benefit? Does that sound like a silly benefit? Not if you are selling to
affluent baby boomers suffering from degrading vision. They
probably hate it when someone they’re trying to impress sees them
squint in order to read something. It’s all part of their inner desire,
which you need to discover. And which even they may not know
about. That is, until you show them a better way.
The point is to address the benefits of the product, not its features.
And when you do that, you’re focusing on your reader and his
interests, his desires. The trick is to highlight those specific benefits
(and word them correctly) that push your reader’s emotional hot
buttons.
How do you do that? Read on!