Lately, I’ve been doing a lot of research on effective copy writing and have come to this conclusion: writing good ads is not easy, even in the carpet cleaning industry.
Most business owners say the same things over and over. It’s hard to distinguish one company from another. This goes for yellow page ads, print ads and web pages.
So what’s the secret to a good ad? It’s simple and you’ve probably heard it before:
Emphasize benefits NOT features!
Ok, what does that mean? Basically, this means that you need to stop talking about your company and start talking about the customer and their needs.
Well, I decided to scour the web to check out all kinds carpet cleaning websites to find common examples of what not to do. These are mistakes most cleaners are making.
I then went a step further to show how to change them in order to emphasize benefits instead of features. Feel free to copy this stuff. It works!
Example 1
Feature: Carpets Dry Fast
Try this instead:
Benefit: No more waiting for days to put your furniture back in place. You’ll save a ton of time with ABC Carpet Care’s fast dry system so you can get back to life as normal.
Example 2
Feature: Excellent Customer Service
Try this instead:
Benefit: You will be greeted with courtesy, respect and most importantly a warm smile with Carpet Care’s 5-Point Customer Service program.
Example 3
Feature: Eco-friendly Cleaning
Try this instead:
Benefit: Breathe easy, no more watery eyes or shortness of breath. Harsh chemicals can wreak havoc on your immune system. Keep your family healthy with ABC Carpet Care’s eco-friendly cleaning agents.
See how in each of the examples the emphasis was taken off of the feature and placed on the benefit. Go through your website or yellow page add and take several of the bullet points and see if you can reword them to show how each can benefit the customer. Use examples, be specific and paint a picture in their mind.
Like I said, it’s not easy and it takes thought. Try it out on your next ad or mail-out and your response rate should double.
