What Are People Buying Online?'

Benefits, that's what!  Oldschool right?  Every sales geek

knows that. Ok so why are only a few doing it? This 

represents a huge opportunity. Whether you're selling in print 

or in person, it's a universal truth. And success in both 

worlds requires a counterintuitive approach. Allow me to 

explain. As human beings, we are all pre programmed from 

birth to behave in certain ways. And one of the strongest 

things that drive us is an awesome pre-occupation with our 

own self-interests. You really don't have to look very far 

to see that this is true. The world is cluttered with 

marketers whose messaging is about them. They talk about all 

of the features of their product, and the advantages of doing

business with their company. Its just human nature to express

ourselves this way when we've poured our lifeblood into the 

development of a product, or a business, isn't it? But 

features, and advantages, are not what people buy. People 

Buy Benefits! Some quick definitions,

Features -
The attributes of your product or service. 

Advantages -
What the attributes of your product or service do.

Benefits -
How people feel when they have the advantages of your product

or service.

Here are a few examples,

1) This SUV has a Vortec 5300 V8 engine (feature), and it can

pull 7000 lbs (advantage). It gives you a testosterone rush

every time you drive it (benefit). 

2) Its got an autotrac 4x4 system (feature) that kicks in

automatically at cruising speed when you hit an icy patch 

on the highway (advantage). You'll drive with confidence and 

peace of mind, regardless of the weather conditions (benefit).

3) You'll be safer and feel more secure too, (benefit), 

because you can actually steer while you brake on slick

surfaces (advantage),thanks to its advanced Antilock-braking

system (feature). Your copy has power, when it contains all 

three elements, but it is quite natural and common to place

too much emphasis on features and advantages. Even on copy 

that covers all three, the order is very often F->A->B. I've 

found that B->A->F (as in example 3 above) often yields better

results. And it stands to reason, considering our natural 

preoccupation with ourselves, doesn't it? Benefits are 

personal and emotional. Benefits trigger opiates in our brains. 

Think about this for a moment. Does a possession, in and of

itself, give you any personal satisfaction? Isn't it the 

feelings that you anticipate as a result of having it, that

give you joy? Doesn't all human striving and endeavor boil 

down to the pursuit of happiness? Incidentally, be careful 

with negative emotions. They can be useful at the beginning 

of a piece, but you must be sure to counter them strongly with

positive ones before the close. Negative emotions are 

debilitating, which is exactly what you DO NOT want. You need

your prospect in a resourceful, confident, and comfortable 

state of mind when you ask her to take action. So how can you

put this knowledge into practice? Make a list of all of the 

features of your offering, and map advantages and benefits to

each one. Then take the most powerful benefits and work them 

into your headline and the opening of your copy. You'll be 

pleasantly surprised with this approach because you end up 

with many more references to 'you', and 'your', at the begin-

ning of the piece this way. Although don't get hung up on 

thinking you always have to fixate on the second person in 

your copy. Benefits can also be implied using first and third

person stories to great effect. More on that in a coming 

edition. Of course the order in which you present your 

benefits is also crucially important. Your prime benefit 

needs to be presented first, and in such a way as to set 

your business apart from your competition. You must have a 

unique, and clearly articulated sales proposition, that's 

loaded with benefits that are most relevant to your target 

audience. The most successful approach is to target and 

dominate one small niche market at a time with this strategy. 

Think of the benefits as the motive power that grabs your

prospect's attention and moves her to action, while the 

features and advantages justify those feelings with logic. 

All three are important. Regardless of whether you want to 

improve your personal sales skills, write better letters and 

proposals, or produce more effective ads and web copy, 

BENEFITS are what will set you apart and ahead of the 

competition. Specific to art this is a good thing.  It is 

much easier to bring light to the benefits of our art than 

to the features.