Sell The Benefit, Not The Feature. Here’s How To Do It.

Knowing why your customer needs your service is the first thing you need to know when writing copy. If you’re selling services, it can be quite hard to sell the benefit because you don’t have a physical product to show. In that case, you have to focus on other aspects like personal service, warranties, expertise or unique selling propositions. Read the rest…

Contributed by Bernadette Schwerdt .   Bernadette Schwerdt is the Founder and CEO of The Australian School of Copywriting. She is a professional copywriter and Australia’s leading Copywriting Coach. She is the author of Copywriting: Writing for Profit, is a contributor to Australian Business Solutions Magazine and features regularly on ABC radio as a marketing commentator. To download your free ebook: “How To Write Headlines That Sell” visit www.copyschool.com/courses.html. To hire a copywriter or to enroll in one of Bernadette’s courses, visit www.copyschool.com

Bernadette Schwerdt has written 7 article(s) for us.

Visit http://www.copyschool.com

Tips On How To Get On Page One Of Google.

We’ve all heard the expression ‘Keep It Simple’. It’s a lofty goal in some ways as running a business seems to get more and more complicated every day.

When Ernest Hemingway coined that phrase, life was in some ways simpler – much simpler, but of course he didn’t have to grapple with computers, the Internet, search engine optimisation, social media and all those other tools we need to keep a business running. Sure, he had other problems but running a small business was not one of them. Read the rest…

The Difference Between a Feature and Benefit and Why It Matters!

 I saw an advertisement a while back that promoted the benefits of getting your doona dry cleaned. In fact, I liked the advertisement so much that I actually took my doona in to get dry cleaned, only to find out that the cost to dry clean it was almost double the price of what I paid for it. Needless to say, I didn’t proceed.

But here’s what was interesting.  The advertisement stopped me in my tracks and compelled me to say “Gee, I need this service” when, three seconds before, I had never even heard of it.  It also highlighted a previously unknown ‘problem’ that I had (an unclean doona) which compelled me to take action and to visit the store. Read the rest…

STOP Playing Around: It’s Time to Commit!

If Financial Ignorance = Bliss.  You’ll Be Blissfully Broke…  Imagine for a moment that you are playing an important game of tennis. It’s the club final and you are the favourite. There is a big crowd and, as the game progresses, everything seems to be going to plan. You’re playing well and you’re winning points. Victory can’t be far away. There is only one problem: there is no scoreboard and the umpire is keeping score to herself.  No one except her knows what’s really going on. Read the rest…

Criteria Based Selling – It’s all about the questions

The age of features and benefits selling is dead. Remember the days when we all watched John Cleese videos on how to close a sale! Oops, maybe just a few of us baby boomers remember those days. But modern day selling is all about understanding the needs of your customer, this is where criteria based selling comes in. Read the rest…

Improve Yourself, Improve Your Business!

For your business to be better, you need to be better, and you don’t get better by doing nothing! To do this you may have to get right out of your comfort zone and join a coaching program, go along to seminars where you meet other like-minded people or those playing at a higher level of business than you.

There’s no excuse not to get off your butt and learn your way to success. Regardless of where you are located, events are taking place all around the country regularly as well as on-line. Saying you have ‘no money’ or ‘no time’ are poor excuses. Read the rest…

Marketing: How To Create Compelling Offers

Why have an offer? Offers (or incentives) are imperative because they make people sit up and take notice. Offers should stop the reader dead in their tracks and make them say “I want that!” If you don’t have an offer, it’s too easy for the reader to turn the page and move on. Even if they’re interested in your product, they won’t stop to do anything about it because they’re just too darn busy. They’ll probably say, “That looks interesting – I must get around to getting one of those.” And of course, that day never comes. So how does it actually work? Read the rest…

’9 Ways to Make Your Meetings Productive and Profitable’

Guest Contributor: Lorraine Pirihi

Some time ago I facilitated a VIP Planning Day for a small accounting practice. During the course of the day we reviewed the progress they had made since  the Planning Day we had the year before. As we were reflecting on their achievements before planning the future, one of the partners made the comment on how crucial their weekly meetings were. Read the rest…