The difference between copy that is “meh” and copy that sells, is that the first focuses on features while the latter focuses on benefits.

Some definitions are in order:

A feature is a fact about a product or service.

A benefit is what the customer gets out of purchasing the product or service and answers the question “What’s in it for me?”.

Many business owners get hung up on the features of their offers but your customers only care about the benefits. They don’t care what type of camera a photographer uses to take their photos, they care about the memories those photos capture and the fact that they will have these forever.

Feature: This new car gets 40 miles per gallon

Benefit: You will not have to spend as much money on gas

Feature: This pair of boots uses state-of-the-art sealant to keep moisture out

Benefit: These boots will keep your feet warmer and dryer than any others on those snowy winter days.

Feature: This car has side impact airbags

Benefit: This car will keep you and your family safer in the event of an accident.

Feature: This iPod has 16GB of memory.

Benefit: This iPod can store about 4000 songs so you always have a large variety of choices when deciding what to listen to.

The customer only cares about what is in it for them, so review your website and marketing materials to see if you have clearly explained that. One way to get to the benefit is adding “which means” to the end of the benefit. For example, “This car has side impact airbags which means your family will be safer in the event of an accident.”

Once you get used to identifying the benefit, try to think about why that benefit matters to your customer. Maybe those boots in the example above are important because that means your customer can play in the snow with her kids. Maybe the new car that gets 40 miles per gallon means your customer can commute further to their dream job that was previously too expensive to commute to.

Most purchasing decisions are made based on emotions so this is very important to keep in mind when you write or explain your product or service. Customers don’t care about the parts of a product or service that creator cares about, they care about what impact it will have on their lives.

How your product or service do that affect your customer’s life? Check out these resources on how to attract more clients through your marketing, because it doesn’t matter how great you are if no one knows about it.

This is a guest post from Heidi Thompson of Evolve Your Wedding Business, a marketing maven for wedding pros who want to kick ass in business and get out of the dreaded feast or famine cycle of doom. She teaches these awesome entrepreneurial ladies and gents how to do amazing marketing on a tiny budget and create a consistent flow of leads because in business, it doesn’t matter how good you are at what you do if no one knows about it.

If you are looking for product marketing tips and strategies to get your product line in front of your customers, have you checked out Product Marketing Breakthrough, my FREE four part video series (it’s only available through January 30, 2013)?

In these videos, you’ll get to hear my story about how I launched my eco-friendly inspirational t-shirt line without knowing anything about apparel, manufacturing, selling online, social media or publicity. But over the course of four years I figured it out AND made a lot of mistakes along the way.

If you’re an entrepreneur with a product line such as apparel and accessories, jewelry, handbags, food, fashion, bath and beauty products, baby and kids products, or any other product, you have to watch these videos. Here’s what you’ll hear:

- 4 proven strategies to get your product line into the spotlight with your customers, retailers, and the media so you can increase your sales and income immediately
- The 3 most important profit boosters for your website, wholesale accounts, and publicity
- 3 specific strategies you can implement right away to create more income in your business immediately, as well as specific how-to’s for each step
- The 3 top mistakes most product-based entrepreneurs make when they try to grow their product line
- Stories of product business owners who have made huge leaps and bounds in their businesses by implementing these Product Marketing Breakthrough strategies

When you watch the videos, you’ll also be able to download a few worksheets, including a Product Description worksheet (so you can write product descriptions that ATTRACT your customers) and a list of over 100 media contacts that you can reach out to right away to pitch your products (and you’ll learn exactly how to pitch them in these videos).

These product marketing videos are only available through January 30, 2013, so make sure to watch them now at www.ProductMarketingBreakthrough.com. And don’t forget to leave a comment below – I’d love to hear what you think!

Listing sites can help bring your products to hundreds of new customers with just a few clicks worth of work. Before holiday shoppers start gearing up for the season this Black Friday weekend, list your products and site on some of the best resources out there. Here’s my list of 10 listing sites you don’t want to miss:

The Find This site  crawls the web to find every deal on the internet. Don’t just wait to be found – post your own products. Small retailers like you can get a leg up by joining the site’s Merchant Program and list your products for free!

Read more . . .