AI/Writing process

<strong>Try prompting </strong> “That means you will …” to get the information you need to turn features into benefits. <a href="https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/group-of-people-forming-a-question-mark-gm520224962-90892811" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Image by mattjeacock</em></a>

How to find benefits, not features

Ask these questions in the interview Having trouble finding reader benefits? Maybe you need to ask different questions. [caption id="attachment_29403"...

Giving away a trip to Hawaii? Lead with the benefit. <a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/es/image-photo/colorful-shirt-garland-hanging-on-coat-1063736204" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Image by Saroj Khuendee</em></a>

How to define features and benefits

Focus on the reader’s needs If you were giving away a Hawaiian vacation to people who signed up for your...

<strong>Something's wrong here</strong> … How can you tell real benefits from fake ones? <em><a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/es/image-photo/pair-joke-wind-chattering-teeth-on-42552637" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Image by RTimages</a></em>

Avoid fake benefits of the product

No ‘Pat yourself on the back for choosing us’ “Clean your face,” demands a hotel soap wrapper. No, YOU clean...

<strong>Stop talking about your program!</strong> If you’re giving away a trip to Las Vegas, that’s your lead. <a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/welcome-las-vegas-sign-isolated-over-42141184" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Image by Stephen Coburn</em></a>

How to turn features into benefits

Lead with the benefit, substantiate with the feature I once reviewed an article for a company’s sales force with the...

<strong>It’s all about <em>you</em></strong> Focus all your communications on the reader and the reader’s needs. <a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/es/image-photo/london-uk-july-8th-2018-word-1143599534" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Image by chrisdorney</em></a>

How to craft reader-centered writing

Use you for all audiences, channels You. It's a power tool of communications. It’s all about...

<strong>Reader first</strong> Top companies 60% more likely to focus on reader needs, twice as likely to engage readers emotionally. <a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/es/image-photo/businesspeople-holding-target-against-their-faces-1011274288" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Image by Andrey_Popov</em></a>

Writer centered vs. reader centered writing

Stop We-We-ing on reader It feels so good to talk about ourselves. Better than sex? Talking...

<strong>You’re so vain, you probably think this piece is about you</strong> Don’t go We, we, we all the way home — without the contract. <a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/es/image-photo/hands-holding-colorful-wooden-letters-shaping-610741004" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Image by stockphoto-graf</em></a>

What is reader-centered writing?

Avoid Institutional Narcissism Richard Roll, an economics professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, studies narcissism in CEOs. Turns...