Do Your Promotional Pieces Contain These Keys? Like other people in my profession, I constantly read marketing pieces. Website content, brochures, and project sheets - you name it. What I see repeatedly is the use of a crutch: the bulleted features list. I call this type of list a crutch because it holds the text back from being all it can be. Why? Often, promotional literature, which I lump into the category of business writing, is missing two vital keys needed to persuade a reader to become a client. First: Good business writing ALWAYS sells/promotes/pushes the benefit of whatever you are writing about. That's simple. Second: Understand the difference between a feature (the bells and whistles of your service or product) and the resulting benefit (what's in it for the end user), and you've got it figured out. Look at your company’s own promotional content, including website content, brochures, sales literature, project sheets, or other things you hand out to prospects. Does each piece meet the above mentioned criteria? If your content is feature-heavy but benefit weak, it won’t hold the attention of your target audience for long, and it certainly won’t help to make the sale. That’s not to say features aren’t important. It is important to specify the industries you serve so readers will see a good fit. It is important to identify new features about your product or new services you are able to provide. And it’s important to note how much experience your company has doing whatever its doing, so potential clients will be assured of your professionalism. But it is that Unique Selling Position (USP) that will win nods more so than a stilted list of features. If I say, “I’ve been writing professionally for 24 years,” (which I have), that shows longevity in the field of writing. While it might be important to a prospect, it might also illicit a big yawn, and have her start calculating just how old I must be. But watch what happens if I tweak this feature to show what the benefit of my experience would be to a client: “Because of my 24 years’ experience writing marketing copy, there’s no learning curve. I understand how to write attention-grabbing, benefit-driven content for your website. That means your website is doing what it’s supposed to be doing: promoting your company sooner.” That’s more exciting! Now, the prospect sees that if she hires me, her website will be “live” sooner than if she tries to write the content herself. The same exercise can and should be done for every feature you can list for your own company. If you need help determining the benefit to a prospective client, call me. I’ll be happy to help.