It's a smoky day up here in Victoria.
Amongst the smoke, I'm sharing a simple 2-step exercise to uncover unexpected ways to pitch your product—with some classic examples of it in action.
I got the idea from Dan Nelken, an excellent creative copywriter.
Let's dive into what you really sell
– Neal
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What are you really selling?
It’s a hot day. Your kids bounce off the walls, and you scroll Instagram to de-stress.
You’re hit with an ad for a Springfree trampoline. The ad shows kids double bouncing each other into the air and off the enclosed walls.
Your eyes gloss over, and you start to scroll past.
And then the ad says:
“They’ll be distracted for hours while you lounge peacefully inside.”
You perk up. Now you’re interested.
Finally a way to get some peace and quiet.
When someone buys a trampoline, what they're really buying is peace.
Find the benefit of the benefit
When you write copy to sell your product, sometimes it’s helpful to look at the “benefit of a benefit.”
Note: this is more obvious when the buyer is different than the user, but that's not a requirement. Use this exercise to uncover clever ways to pitch your product.
Step 1:
Write a list of your product’s benefits AND its downsides.
You’ll see why in a second.
Step 2:
Analyze each and ask, “what’s a unexpected / obvious / helpful / interesting / funny / convenient / comforting / amazing / wild / beautiful / exciting / weird… benefit of this benefit/downside?”
In other words, what’s a second-order benefit of that benefit/downside?
It can either be directly for the user (kids on a trampoline) or for the real buyer/user (relaxed parent).
A bunch of examples:
Trampoline → fun for multiple kids → parents get some time off
Sports car → no back seats (drawback) → no room for kids (there's a theme here)
Dog bed → dog will have a place to sleep → he won’t sleep in your bed
Electric car → no visiting gas stations → not caring when gas prices go up
Durex → no unexpected pregnancies → no kids stuff (Durex = cheaper than baby)
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Jeep → amazing off road vehicle → can park anywhere
McDonald’s → open 24/7 → only food available on a late party night → good at interpreting drunk people (note this is a benefit of a benefit of a benefit).
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You get the point.
Do this simple exercise the next time you write copy for your site, an ad, an email, or a piece of content. List all the benefits and downsides of your product. Then find the second (or third) order benefit of each.
A lot will be rubbish. But you might strike gold.
Shoutout to Dan Nelken’s great book, A Self-Help Guide for Copywriters, for this insight. I highly recommend its process for generating a bunch of great copy ideas.
Something fun
Keeping with today's theme 😂. From @openlygayanimals
