You Get Benefit Now!
The Four Key Words of Successful Network Marketing
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
When you're creating a marketing communication, do you want the people receiving it to respond NOW... or at some indefinite future time?
Put this way, it's obvious, isn't it? YOU WANT RESPONSES AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. Presumably, so do the vast majority of other "marketers" who, like so many mad elves in a communications factory, keep on churning out marketing communications to beat the band.
Unfortunately, if you review what they create (like the stuff you get in the mail every day), you'd never know this was their objective. Instead, what you see is leaden "me-centered" communications that run on about the marketers themselves, how long they've been in business, the products/services they've got for sale, and a host of other things that are just not designed to MOTIVATE IMMEDIATE ACTION. Even the big guys fail in this regard.
As I write I'm looking at the newest catalog from Hammacher Schlemmer, the well-known catalog company. Here are the only words on the first third of the front cover. "1995
OVERSTOCK Sale." Where's the motivation in this? 1995 is a feature. Overstock (even in huge letters) is a feature. And the word "sale" per se doesn't necessarily mean very much. Only afterwards (and in much smaller type) do the marketing genuiuses at Hammacher cut to the chase with "Save 20% to 70% off our original prices." It's not great but at least it's a little marketing, bubbula.
What's wrong in the marketing department at Hammacher Schlemmer is precisely what's wrong chez vous: you're not using the four most important words in marketing, YOU GET BENEFIT NOW! Let's look at each to make sure you never, ever make that mistake again.
YOU
The first most important word in marketing is YOU. No, that's not you, bone head. That's "you" the prospect. He/she is all important because until he/she does what you want him/her to do NOTHING HAPPENS. And if this crucial person doesn't act at all, all the hard work -- and don't forget the money -- you've invested counts for nothing!
Thus, you've got to be real clear about who this all important "you" is.
Keep in mind that EVERY marketing communication is and should be written for just one person. Thus, the old "dear sir, dear madam" letters of the past just don't cut it. Today's prospect wants you to focus on him/her, right from the get-go. Let him/her know that you do.
In your salutation or opening paragraph say, in effect, "Look, this is for you... and I mean you the gourmet coffee drinker, the hospital emergency room administrator, the collector of baseball cards, etc." You see, all people are ego-maniacs. They want what they want, and you're only important to them insofar as they know that you've got it. Get it?
Thus, lean over backwards to let the person reading your marketing communication know that you've created it for and sent it to THE EXACT PERSON WHO'S READING IT.
And do this immediately. Make sure the person knows from the VERY FIRST WORD it's for him/her. (Quick, what's Hammacher's first word? It's "1995". Not very "you," is it? What's their second word? "OVERSTOCK." Ditto. Get the point? They didn't!
GET
Human beings are acquisitive beasts, always have been, always will be. Thus, they're interested in getting.
Now in marketing, the word "get" is like vanilla ice-cream; it's a foundation word. You can also use a lot of other words that are related to get and that may be more appropriate for the product/service you're selling. Such words include..
Enjoy, profit from, experience, love, thrill to, adore, benefit from, etc.
All these are "get-related" words.
You've got to let the reader know he/she is going to GET something they want.
Keep in mind that all marketing is about getting. It's about the transfer of a product or unit of service from you, who has it, to the buyer, who wants it. Thus, you need to use words that conjure up the experience the buyer's going to get when he/she gets the product/service in question.
Transferring a product from Point A (you) to Point B (buyer) isn't very motivating per se. But enjoying that product, profiting from it, loving it, thrilling to it is definitely something the buyer wants. And what's the "it". Why, the benefit.
BENEFIT
Every product and service in the word is composed of elements called features. Features are things like size, weight, color, duration, etc. Features, while crucial to the creation and profitable use of any product/service, are of limited utility in advancing the marketing process. That's why every single feature that you intend to use for marketing needs to be translated into a client-centered benefit.
The marketing people at the Synergetics Computer (card) Pak don't know the difference between features and benefits, despite the fact that they're in the advertising business. In their current issue they open with these words on their front card: "Win a 25,000 name mailing list."
Is this a benefit? Well, consider. Would you rather have a 25,000 name mailing list... or would you rather "GET 25,000 POTENTIAL CUSTOMER NAMES FREE! A $1500 VALUE"?
Benefits are what people really want. Features are just product/service descriptors. They'd be fine on a customs declaration, but they don't do at all when you're trying to motivate real people.
To work, benefits must be both factually correct and entirely believable. They must offer value, not hype.
Unfortunately, all too many "marketers" have forgotten this. Instead of credible value, they think that throwing lots of adjectives and adverbs at the customer will carry the day. Wrong. Today's customer is rightly a skeptical animal. He/she has been burnt before by falling for hype and has sensibly become dubious about the hype words that idea-bereft marketers so casually employ, words like "unique," "world-class," "best".
You want to motivate people with benefits? Then make the benefits hard as steel, believable, value-focused and entirely supportable. To get benefits like these, brainstorm all the reasons why people should buy your product/service. Then, before employing any in your marketing communications, ask yourself whether these benefits motivate YOU to buy. In other words, become the skeptical consumer you are in every-day life, not the hype-driven marketer for (whatever reason) you think works at your place of employment. Which benefits motivate you? Which ones are the most believable? The most valuable? (If you're not sure, ask real prospects and customers. They'll be glad to assist.)
Once you've subjected the benefits you propose to use to your own "sniff" test, then prioritize them. Lead with the strongest -- for the prospects you're addressing in your marketing communication (always understanding that with another group you may lead with another benefit for the same product/service). Then follow with your second-strongest benefit, etc. Your job is to pile on as many benefits as the format of your marketing communication allows -- a couple or three for a post card, with up to a dozen in a multi-page sales letter.
NOW!
There's only one time dimension in marketing: NOW! Not yesterday, not tomorrow. BUT RIGHT THIS MINUTE!
That's why you've got to ask yourself whether, in each of your marketing communications, you've done EVERYTHING YOU CAN to motivate the fastest possible action.
In this connection let's go back to the offending Hammacher catalog. Here's what they're using to motivate immediate action: "Order early, quantities are limited." Well, dear reader, that's pretty thin, don't you think?
"Now" means using offers that get people to sit up, take notice, and ACT IMMEDIATELY!
Such motivating devices may include
Deadline dates. "Act by Thursday, or you'll lose <prime benefit>."
Limited quantities. "Only three left."
Special prices. "Save up to $750." (In this connection, would you rather save up to $750, or up to 22%? Real dollars, of course. Real dollars are believable. As for the statistics? Well, remember the old saw, "There are lies, damn lies, and statistics." Always go for the real, believable dollars!)
Special gifts with precise dollar figures. (Remember the problem with the Synergetics card pack mailing list offer?)
In short, craft your offers so they're credible, value-laden -- and very limited, thus forcing fastest prospect action.
LAST WORDS
Now that Communism is as dead as the Inquisition, the Third World War is a marketing war... and everybody and his brother who aims to prosper is automatically involved.
If you want to move up in the ranks and win the big prizes, you've got to get good at marketing, and get good fast. Otherwise you're going nowhere. This means getting savvy about the marketing communications you produce. Which means using the four simple but immensely powerful words YOU GET BENEFIT NOW!
Sit down right now with the marketing communications you're currently using in your efforts to get ahead (for that, remember, is what your marketing is supposed to do). Ask yourself if what you're producing is about you and your product or service, or is it about the prospect you say you want to motivate? Ask yourself where the "you" is, the "get", the "benefit" and what you're using to motivate IMMEDIATE RESPONSE, right NOW!
Don't like what you see? Take action right now to get on the track and, by refocusing what you're using to motivate prospects, get back on the winning track so you, too, will get the benefit NOW!
Resource Box
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is proprietor of the world's largest and least expensive card-deck, the quarterly 100,000 circulation Sales & Marketing Success Deck. He also owns several Malls on the Internet that feature the lowest prices in the world wide web industry for both home pages and fax-on-demand. To get a card in the next issue of his deck, call (617) 547-6372. For 24 hour fax on demand details about card-deck and his Worldprofit Malls, fax (403) 425-6049 (document #1) or call (403) 425-2466. To get a free year's subscription to his quarterly 32-page Sure-Fire Business Success Catalog, call (617) 547-6372.
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