A reader asks:
“How do I succinctly present the benefits of my product to my avatar?”
I’ll start with the theory… then get practical.
Here’s the theory:
The key is in framing your product’s benefits as solutions to your audience’s problems, and doing this succinctly.
The worst thing you can do when presenting the “benefits” of your product… is to list off cool things about your product WITHOUT having first thought about how those “benefits” will actually help your reader. With their particular struggles & frustrations. So as always – start with your reader. Step inside their world. Figure out what they want. What they’re frustrated with. What they’re scared about. Then – and ONLY then – start thinking about how your product can help them.
Make sense?
(Maybe those of you who follow my stuff notice an emerging theme: Audience comes first. THEN comes you & your product.)
Until you deeply understand what your audience wants (their desires) and WHY they want it (their pain points & ‘underlying’ desires), all your attempts at presenting product benefits in your copy will just sound like ‘blabber’ to them.
K.
Now, getting practical:
(1) Write down a list of things that your audience wants (as relates to your product/market). Don’t make things up. Only list things that you’ve heard your audience say they want. If you’re a singing coach, this list might include:
- To become a great singer
- To achieve more vocal confidence
- To increase her range
- To improve her stamina
- To be able to sing in public and be proud of it
(2) For each desire you list, write down a corresponding pain point. So to return to the singing coach example, this might look like:
- To become a great singer
- She feels like an average singer… and hates feeling average
- To achieve more vocal confidence
- She feels insecure about her ability to sing
- To increase her range
- She sings at various gigs… and is always terrified of not being able to hit the high notes when singing.
- To improve her stamina
- She sings at gigs… and becomes tired easily. Which makes it hard to take on lots of gigs. And that’s frustrating.
- To be able to sing in public and be proud of it
- She’s terrified of singing in public
(3) For each ‘problem’ (pain point) that your audience has… write down 1-2 ways in which your product solves that problem. Don’t worry about being succinct. You can be wordy in this step.
- To become a great singer
- She feels like an average singer… and hates feeling average
- My singing course hand-holds you… and walks you through the process of going from ‘bad/average singer’ to ‘master singer.’
- She feels like an average singer… and hates feeling average
- To achieve more vocal confidence
- She feels insecure about her ability to sing
- My singing course quickly improves your singing ability… in ways that your audience can actually hear… and so you’ll get more compliments. Which boosts your confidence.
- My singing course teaches you the techniques that the pros use. And when you know this… that you’re using the same techniques that Freddie Mercury, Christina Aguilera, and Michael Jackson used… you’ll naturally become more confident.
- She feels insecure about her ability to sing
- To increase her range
- She sings at various gigs… and is always terrified of not being able to hit the high notes when singing.
- My singing course teaches you certain techniques… that help you improve your range overnight
- My singing course gives you vocal exercises… that will help you improve your range more and more… the more you use them
- She sings at various gigs… and is always terrified of not being able to hit the high notes when singing.
- To improve her stamina
- She sings at gigs… and becomes tired easily. Which makes it hard to take on lots of gigs. And that’s frustrating.
- My singing course teaches you to use proper *posture* while you’re singing… which, interestingly, improves your stamina
- My singing course will help you improve the strength of your vocal muscles… which improves your stamina
- She sings at gigs… and becomes tired easily. Which makes it hard to take on lots of gigs. And that’s frustrating.
- To be able to sing in public and be proud of it
- She’s terrified of singing in public
- My singing course helps you become really good… in a way that sounds good to your audience. And so instead of being afraid of singing, you’ll want to show off your voice.
- She’s terrified of singing in public
(4) Go back over all the ways in which your product is a solution to your audience’s problems… and shave off words. And keep shaving. And keep shaving. Until you have the bare benefits:
“My course…
- Helps you go from good to great
- Gets you more compliments, which boosts your confidence
- Gives you the reassurance… that comes with knowing that you’re using proper technique
- Teaches you techniques that can improve your range overnight
- Gives you exercises that – with time – help you improve your range
- Teaches you proper posture that will help you improve your stamina
- Gives you exercises that grow your vocal muscles, leading to greater stamina
- Makes you want to show off your voice, because you start sounding so good”
And there you go.
Succinctly stated benefits framed in a way that makes sense to your avatar.
Is there more you can do to improve your list of benefits?
Absolutely.
For example, figure out what your audience’s biggest objections are… and re-write your list of benefits so that they both (a) state the benefit, and (b) answer an objection that your reader has.
But time runs short.
That’s another post.
