I was asked recently, “What is the biggest mistake most entrepreneurs make when writing copy?”
My answer:
They don’t focus on the benefits of their offer or services. They shy away from talking about the amazing results their clients will experience, and instead they yammer on and on about a bunch of stuff nobody cares about.
And when they do, they lose out on the chance to connect with their clients, to inspire people’s interest, and make the sale.
If you want your message to have an impact, if you want your copy to be clear, compelling and convincing so people want what you’ve got to offer, you need to make sure your copy is rich in benefits.
Which is why I made this sweet little video for you where I explain how to triple the impact of your benefits in your copy. Give it a peak:
If you want your copy to be clear and compelling and convincing, you need to make sure your copy communicates the specific ways in which your client will directly benefit from your product or service.
What’s in it for them? Why should they care? How will what you offer rock their world? This is what you need to focus on. Make sure those benefits are prominent, clear and compelling in your copy.
Now, when you’re thinking about the benefits of your offer and services, think about the immediate benefits, the direct benefits and the far-reaching benefits. Here’s what I mean:
What will your client experience immediately as a result of working with you or using your product? Maybe they’ll immediately have a sense of relief. Maybe they’ll have some instant clarity about what’s going on. Whatever they experience immediately, those are your immediate benefits.
Then there’s your direct benefits. These are the benefits they’ll experience as a direct result of working with you or using your product. Then there are the far-reaching benefits. These are the benefits they’ll experience in the years to come after working with you. Or years after using your product.
Let me give you an example.
Let’s say that you’re a business coach who helps professional women escape the corporate jungle and start their own profitable business. What are the immediate benefits of working with you? Perhaps one is that your client will immediately feel a sense of relief because she knows she’s in good hands. Or maybe she’ll instantly know whether her business idea is even viable.
Then there are the direct benefits of working with you, the ones that come through the process of working with you. Perhaps your client will create a business plan so she’ll know what to do every step of the way. Or she’ll feel a hundred times more confident that she can actually make this big move. Or maybe she’ll know when she can quit her job without ending up in crippling debt; or maybe she’ll just know she’s not going to make the same stupid mistakes because you’re going to be guiding her. These are some of the direct benefits, and there are probably many, many more.
Then there’s the far-reaching benefits. These are the yummy things she’ll experience way down the road as a result of working with you. Maybe she’ll be having a blast running her own business, scheduling her own time, taking vacations when she wants to. Or she’ll have her own team and be able to have a greater sense of purpose and meaning in the work that she does.
In your copy, you want to be sure you include (or at least allude) to all 3 of these types of benefits when you’re talking about your offer. Often, you’ll use more direct and immediate benefits with just a smattering of far-reaching ones, but not always. You have to know what your clients really want and speak to that. Feature the benefits they crave the most!
So, let’s play a little! In the comments below, leave me a one benefit of each type (immediate, direct and far-reaching) that your clients will experience as a result of working with you or buying your product. Ready, set… go!
And if you want some more tips on how to come up with your benefits and use them to write compelling copy, be sure to download my free eBook, 12 Tweaks to Quickly Transform Your Message from Dull to Dazzling. It’s a great guide for writing all of your copy.