Giant “List-O-Benefits” Checklist
Are you ready to learn one of the most useful skills you could ever possess? I hope so, because once you master this skill, you’ll be able to pump out flyers, blog posts, tweets (and other marketing copy) that will fill your special events to the rafters.
Let’s get down to business.
First, let me start with one of the biggest mistakes I see school owners make when writing marketing copy:
They only focus on features!
Features are usually physical attributes of a product or service. They’re things such as weight, measurements and specs.
Features don’t sell. Features are important in supporting your selling arguments, but they should come after the benefits.
Only benefits sell. Benefits are what your product or service does for your customer. I like to think of benefits as “outcomes” or “results”: What is the final result your buyer gets after they use your product or service?
Are they safer? Do they have more peace-of-mind? Are they thinner? Healthier? Wealthier? Wise?
The most powerful benefits are emotional: feeling healthier, looking more fit, having greater peace-of-mind, gaining respect and prestige and so on.
Here’s a helpful list of benefits from “The Greatest Direct Mail Sales Letters of All Time” by Richard S. Hodgson. If the benefits of a product or service aren’t obvious to me at first, I’ll use this list to get the creative juices flowing. It contains 100 reasons why a person would ever hand you their money and buy your product or service.
Giant List-O-Benefits
- To satisfy curiosity
- To get a surprise
- To be successful
- To be more comfortable
- To make work easier
- To gain prestige
- To be sociable
- To be creative
- To be efficient
- To safeguard self and family
- To protect family’s future
- To be good parents
- To be well-liked and loved
- To appear different from others
- To gain popularity
- To add to life’s pleasures
- To express a personality
- To be in fashion
- To avoid embarassment
- To fulfill fantasies
- To be up-to-date
- To own attractive things
- To collect valuable possessions
- To protect or conserve possessions
- To satisfy ego
- To be “first”
- To accumulate money
- To preserve money already accumulated
- To save time
- To protect reputation
- To satisfy appetite
- To enjoy exotic tastes
- To live in a clean atmosphere
- To be strong and healthy
- To renew vigor and energy
- To get rid of aches and pains
- To find new and uncommon things
- To win others’ affection
- To be more beautiful
- To attract the opposite sex
- To satisfy sexual desires
- To bring back the “good old days”
- To be lucky
- To live longer
- To feel important
- To gain knowledge
- To improve appearance
- To gain praise from others
- To be recognized as an authority
- To enhance leisure
- To save money
- To have security in old age
- To overcome obstacles
- To do things well
- To get a better job
- To be your own boss
- To gain social acceptance
- To “keep up with the Joneses”
- To appreciate beauty
- To be proud of possessions
- To resist domination by others
- To emulate the admirable
- To relieve boredom
- To gain self-respect
- To win acclaim
- To gain admiration
- To win advancement
- To seek adventure
- To satisfy ambition
- To be among the leaders
- To gain confidence
- To escape drudgery
- To gain freedom from worry
- To get on the bandwagon
- To get something for nothing
- To gain self-assurance
- To escape shame
- To avoid effort
- To get more comfort
- To gain praise
- To be popular
- To have safety in buying something else
- To take advantage of opportunities
- To protect reputation
- To be an individual
- To avoid criticism
- To avoid trouble
- To emulate others
- To “one-up” others
- To be in style
- To increase enjoyment
- To have or hold beautiful possessions
- To replace the obsolete
- To add fun or spice to life
- To work less
- To look better
- To conserve natural resources
- To protect the environment
- To avoid shortages
- To relax
Whew! What a list.
Did it help you get the gist of what a benefit is? It did? Good.
Now that you know what a benefit is, think of your product and sift through that list of benefits, one-by-one.
Ask yourself: “Does my product satisfy curiosity? Yup. Does it help somebody get a surprise? Nah. How about be more successful? Nah. Does my product help somebody become more comfortable?” And so on.
Once you have uncovered which benefits your product or service targets, write them down. Then rank them in order from most important to least important. I call these “major benefits” and “minor benefits”. See, most products and services have many benefits. But for best results, you need to highlight the most powerful benefits.
Once you’ve done that, take the three most powerful benefits and put them into your headline. Once you’ve done that, take the “minor” benefits and sprinkle them throughout your copy.
Voila! Your copy now contains powerful benefits and reasons why somebody would come to your seminar, sign up for classes or buy that item from your pro shop.
Doing this exercise will improve the pulling power of your copy dramatically.