• The Biggest Copywriting Mistake of All (and, yes, even the big guys do it)

    01 Jul 2009 /  brochures, copywriting, copywriting rules, copywriting tips, marketing campaign, marketing materials, marketing writing

    Tell me the truth: Are you more likely to buy a camping chair because it is made of polyester/nylon mesh or because the fabric dries quickly and won’t puddle water when left out in the rain? If you chose the latter, that’s because you are like everybody else in the world — you like to know how a product will benefit you.

    Luckily for REI, I got this example from their website, where they did it right: Their description focused on the benefits of the chair (that the material dries quickly), instead of just listing the features of the chair (that the material is polyester/nylon mesh).

    REI successfully touts this chair's benefits, not features, on its website

    REI successfully touts this chair's benefits, not features, on its website

    But just because REI succeeds in giving benefits over features, doesn’t mean that all the big companies do so in their marketing materials. In fact, the New York Times just ran a blog posting about how Ford forgot this very important aspect of marketing and copywriting.

    The posting is about the company’s new van that gets 22 to 25 miles per gallon, and it’s being marketed as a small-business delivery van. Here’s a portion of the blog:

    “When I looked over the marketing sheet for the trucks before they got here, I couldn’t help but notice that Ford’s marketing people don’t really know how to talk to their customers — they don’t speak “entrepreneur.” It was a classic case of selling the features instead of the benefits….

    For instance, they say, “The power train was upgraded to include a proven Duratec 2.0 liter dual overhead cam (DOHC) I-4 engine …” What does that mean? But then I drove the truck and noticed the pick up. Me understand. Me go fast. Me want. How many people even know what a power train is? Or a dual overhead cam? Oh, excuse me, a DOHC.”

    The posting goes on to cover point by point how the brochure fails to sell this van to its customer.

    Luckily for Ford, the writer actually saw the van in person and didn’t have to rely on the marketing materials to discover that it’s a perfect fit for his needs (and then went on to write about that in the New York Times).

    But how many of their potential customers are going to have that same opportunity? And how many of their potential customers will have the chance to tell so many people about the vehicle’s benefits?

    Accroding to the NY Times, Ford's brochure for its new van fails to tell its potential customer how he or she will benefit from buying this vehicle.

    According to the NY Times, Ford's brochure for this new van fails to tell its potential customer how he or she will benefit from buying this vehicle.

    So take this as just another reminder that if you offer a product or service, you need to find out how it benefits your customer — and then tell your customer all about that in your marketing materials.

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    Posted by Heather @ 3:33 pm

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