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tamo42
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« on: 2009 Nov 15, 08:18:42 pm » |
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Marketing can make or break a business. If you have the best product in the world and nobody knows about it, it might as well not exist. The idea that you just have to create something, and the world will beat a path to your doorstep is just plain false.
With that said, what should your marketing say? Well, there are several people out there who are paid many thousands of dollars to tell you just that (Dan Kennedy and Jay Abraham being two of my faves). But we can cover a few of the basics here. The inspiration for this post came from the following conversation on #business:
17:28 <intrin> any writers?
17:28 <intrin> i need help building on this
17:28 <intrin> Our chair will crush the competition literally! Look how their chair has trouble traversing over such terrain as a mountain road, or campground ruts. The Action Track chair is the Ultimate in off-road wheelchairs, you will be able to go places you never thought possible with the latest off-road wheelchair.
17:28 <intrin> Why choose our chair
17:30 <tamo42_wk> The Action Track chair is the ultimate in off-road wheelchairs! You'll go places you never thought possible - mountain roads, campground ruts, and the deep woods.
17:31 <tamo42_wk> The Action Track chair crushes the competition. No other wheelchair can offer (whatever it offers)
17:31 <intrin> i like
intrin has what I believe to be a great new product. It's a wheelchair that has treads like a tank to go off-roading. It's camouflaged to be hunting friendly. So how can he communicate that with the reader of his website?
The most important thing to keep in mind is that your customer is not a mind reader and has no imagination. You have to spell out exactly how the customer will benefit from your product. Do not expect him to be able to see the relevance of some particular feature.
As a counter-example, once when selling a house, I left the carpet unfinished and provided prospects with samples so that they could choose their own color or pattern. I believed that they would appreciate this option. I was totally wrong. All people could see was that the current carpet looked like crap (and it did). I should have just picked a nice, neutral tone and done it. The customer has no imagination.
This leads to the distinction between features and benefits. Features are specific things about your product that are interesting, new, or helpful. Benefits are how those features actually help in the real world for your customer. Skip the features and talk at length about the benefits. This marketing law is violated constantly. Let's look back at intrin's statement to see how the difference between features and benefits plays out.
17:28 <intrin> Our chair will crush the competition literally!
[umm, great?]
Look how their chair has trouble traversing over such terrain as a mountain road, or campground ruts.
[whose chairs are you selling?]
The Action Track chair is the Ultimate in off-road wheelchairs, you will be able to go places you never thought possible with the latest off-road wheelchair.
[ok, I can go places I never thought possible. That sounds like it might be interesting, tell me more.]
17:28 <intrin> Why choose our chair
17:30 <tamo42_wk> The Action Track chair is the ultimate in off-road wheelchairs! You'll go places you never thought possible - mountain roads, campground ruts, and the deep woods.
[here I am trying to spell out those places. If I (the customer) never thought them possible, then they have to be explained a bit instead of just leaving an empty open-ended possibility]
17:31 <tamo42_wk> The Action Track chair crushes the competition. No other wheelchair can offer (whatever it offers)
[I leave the (whatever it offers) because obviously I don't really know what this chair can do. Hopefully intrin can run with this.]
17:31 <intrin> i like
He likes it because as he is reading it, he can start to create a mental image of this product and how it will help. The customer has no idea how you can help him. You have to make it crystal clear how his life will be better after buying your product. That is the essence of good copy.
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