Translate features to advantages to benefits
Quick! Which would you rather have: Apple’s new incredibly responsive A9X chip? Or the ability to perform complex jobs like editing 4K video quickly and smoothly via your iPad?
And that’s the problem.
Your readers don’t care about your organization and its stuff. They care about themselves and their needs.
So to sell your products, services and ideas, you need to show how your organization and its stuff can fill your readers’ needs. One way to do that: Translate your message from features into advantages into benefits.
Translate from features into advantages into benefits | |||
Feature What it is | Advantage What it does | Benefit What it will do for you | |
Definition | An attribute of your product, service, program or idea | The reason the feature is important | What the feature will do for you |
Example | The new iPad Pro features Apple’s new A9X chip. | The A9X chip is incredibly responsive. | That means you can perform complex jobs like editing 4K video quickly and smoothly on your iPad. |
Type of word | Noun | Adjective or adverb | Verb |
Problem | People don’t buy features — not on chairs, in products and services or in information. So you need to keep translating. | People don’t buy advantages, either. So you need to keep translating. | People do “buy” benefits, in products, services or information. |
So don’t sell me a MacBook Air. Sell me on the time I’ll save with the Air.
The problem is, most readers can’t get from “AX9 chip” to “perform complex jobs like editing 4K video” by themselves. In fact, sales research tells us that some 70% of our readers can’t translate from advantages to benefits without help, says Linda Miller, president of The Marketing Coach.
So don’t rely on your readers to translate. That’s your job.
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Think Like a Reader
The secret to reaching readers is to position your messages in your audience’s best interests. (Most communicators position their messages in their organization’s best interests.)
At Catch Your Readers — a two-day writing Master Class on Nov. 2-3 in Houston — you’ll learn a four-step process for making your message more relevant, valuable and rewarding to your audience. Specifically, you’ll learn:
- The formula people use to determine which messages to pay attention to
- Two rewards you can use to boost audience interest in your message
- The No. 1 question to answer on your reader’s behalf
- A two-minute perspective shift that focuses your message on the value to the audience
- A three-letter word to use to make your message more relevant to your audience
This is your last chance to learn to Catch Your Readers in 2016. Don’t miss out! Register now.
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Polish your skills at our upcoming Master Classes
Learn to Master the Art of the Storyteller, Catch Your Readers, Get Clicked, Cut Through the Clutter and more
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