e-Tip #2 January 7, 2008

Dear Friend:

Last week, in e-Tip #1, we said the central focal point is “The Brand.”

Sometimes, direct response marketers take that focal point too far and keep all the attention on the features of the brand and overlook what’s really important – the potential buyer.

e-Tip #2 is all about the buyer; the consumer, the customer. Features are great but what really generates response is the brand’s BENEFITS. Since we were little kids, the theme was always “What’s in it for me.”

A brand’s benefits are the advantages that your customers receive when they buy the brand, and this strategy works for both products and services. It works for B2C brands and B2B brands. Features, on the other hand are the brand’s characteristics. The fact that a car can go from zero to 65 in six seconds is a feature. Another car gets 45 miles/gallon. These are features. The benefits are what interests the consumer. Benefits tell buyers what the features will do for them.

Successful direct response marketers determine what buyers want, what their goals are and what will make them most happy. Once the portrait of the consumer has been sculpted, it becomes easier to sell the benefits.

Given the brand’s features, the copywriter’s job is to convert features into benefits. Three guiding principles will support this process:

1. Determine the consumers’ exact needs and desires as it relates to not only your brand but the category in which you are competing because once this is understood, you can give them the right kind of compelling copy to cause a buying action.
   
2. Decide how your prospects will benefit most from the brand’s features.
3. Add the word “you” and an appropriate verb in front of the feature and watch your sales explode.
   

Suppose the feature of your car brand is 45 miles/gallon. The feature (great gas mileage) becomes a dual edge benefit, “You save lots of money with our high gas mileage and you help the environment.”

Our recommendation is that in all your direct response communications, keep the copy focused and short. Remember, in today’s marketing landscape, short is not only better, it’s best.

Eric Sims and Willi Abbott.

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