Shaun Crowley (bio)

Your copy ‘concept’ can be defined as an engaging way of communicating your sales message through copy, design, choice of advertising medium, and format.

There are two processes that that are crucial to finding an effective advertising concept: Identifying common traits amongst the target demographic; and brainstorming product benefits that respond to these traits.

The first thing a copywriter should do at the start of every project is get into the mind of the reader and strive to understand the readers' need for the product.

Identify the practical needs of your reader.
Your copy needs to engage the readers’ practical needs so you can provide a rational argument for buying the product. Here are a few examples of practical needs:

- To conserve space
- To limit risk
- To do a good job
- To improve quality
- To keep peers motivated
- To keep clean
- To stay healthy
- To save time
- To increase production
- To make work easier
- To save money
- To make money

Identify the emotional needs of your reader.
Your copy should also respond to readers’ deeper fears and desires. A product that helps someone keep clean is one thing, but a product that saves someone the embarrassment of BO is another.

Think about which of the following emotional needs are important to your reader, then show how your product fulfils those needs. Here are some common emotional needs that most products seek to respond to:

- To feel attractive
- To feel fit and healthy
- To receive acclaim
- To be liked
- To be appreciated
- To feel important
- To feel secure
- To feel relaxed
- To be independent
- To have more than others
- To have fun
- To gain knowledge
- To eliminate worry
- To save embarrassment
- To avoid feeling guilty
- To stop fear

Consider your reader’s emotional needs in business-to-business marketing.
People are generally expected to act rationally at work where every dollar must be accounted for. But it is a common misconception that business managers only have practical needs. Whether we are at home or at work, our decisions are always based on emotions to some degree.

For example, if a product helps a factory manager to improve the efficiency of his production line, he’s interested. But why?

Because if he increases line output, he receives acclaim from the company director and feels like a successful manager. That’s the real, emotive benefit!

Think in terms of benefits.
This is the golden rule for every advertising copywriter. In general, benefit-led brochures, adverts and websites are more successful than feature-led brochures, adverts, and websites—even those that are technically badly written.

Good copywriters have an eye for a potential benefit. It’s not a divine skill; it’s something you can pick up in a few hours. First you need to familiarize yourself with the differences between benefits and features.

Distinguishing features from benefits
A feature is factual. It describes the product by answering these questions:
- what is it?
- what has it got?
- what comes with it?

A benefit is emotional. It tells the reader what they will gain as a result of the feature.
- What does it do?
- What does it mean for me?
- It’s got X. So what?

Benefits are verbs
The best way to condition your mind into thinking in terms of benefits is to approach the task linguistically. A benefit is always an action. So when you’re trying to find a benefit, start with a verb. Here are a few examples:

- Improve ( ‘Calculate improves your child’s Math results’)
- Help ( ‘The pen that helps you see in the dark’)
- Stop ( ‘Sure-dent stops decay’)
- Start ( ‘Start making real money, now!’)
- Feel (‘Feel like you’re ten years younger’)
- Be (‘Be the success you always dreamed of’)

It’s a benefit… but is it persuasive?
To help you identify your most persuasive benefit, elaborate by using linking phrases such as which means that... until you have found your most persuasive benefit. The following example proves the point.

How a simple toaster can help you get that BIG promotion
1. The new XYZ toaster tells you when your toast is just right
2. (which means that…)
you don’t need to waste time checking your toast
3. (which means that…)
you can spend breakfast preparation getting ready for work
(which means that…)
you’ll be able to take that early train each morning
5. (which means that…)
you’ll impress your boss with your new-found time-keeping skills
6. (which means that…)
you’ll be next in line for that big promotion

Sure, this benefit is far-fetched, but you see how it works. Just use “…which means that…” until you get to the heart of the product’s premise.

(Try my tutorial for more help with brainstorming benefits, and to see how you can use benefits to write effective self-promo material to sell your design service.)

Benefits satisfy needs
To identify a product benefit, think about your reader’s practical and emotional needs, then say how the product responds to that need.

Emotional benefits are best
Emotional needs are more powerful motivators than practical needs. If you can only think of practical benefits, continue using "Which means that…" until you touch a nerve:

E.G.
Feature: The new Vintage has rear-bumper sensors...
Practical benefit: ...which means you can park in the tightest of spaces with ease...
Emotional benefit: ... which means you can take your car downtown with confidence
(need: to feel secure, to be independent, to eliminate the worry associated with driving)

Should you always highlight benefits?
In brochures or catalogs where readers may want to compare features and statistics, it may not be appropriate to increase your word count with benefit-oriented copy. However, in most cases benefits should be spelt out clearly. Even if you think your readers already know the benefits of a given feature, remind them.

In summary, winning copy-concepts are built around the copywriter’s understanding of the reader’s need for the product, and an ability to define a clear product-benefit that fulfils those needs.

Get the idea? Then see how you can put this into practice by reading 13 copy-design concepts that sell, or take a look at my book 100 Copywriting Tips for Designers.

© Shaun Crowley 2007

Shaun Crowley has worked as a freelance copywriter and marketing consultant. He currently works as a communications manager for a major UK publishing company and is the author of The Freelance Designer's Self-Marketing Handbook and 100 Copywriting Tips for Designers and Other Freelance Artists.