Think like a reader - advertising copy

To improve readership and sell your ideas, put yourself in your reader's head.

my grandfather knew how to think like a fish.

My sister and brother and I used to sit around watching Grandpa fry his fillets and serving as amateur taste-testers. One day, standing next to a refrigerator packed with catfish, I asked Grandpa how he could be so successful at catching fish.

George Wylie was the star fisherman in his little town of Clay Center, Kansas. He was also writer and publisher of "Wylie's Fishing Calculator," a farmer's almanac--style guide for fishermen. And if you hunt hard enough in a used-record store, you just might find a Doc Severinsen album on which Johnny Carson's bandleader praises Grandpa's fried catfish. (He thought my grandmother was pretty swell, too!)

Grandpa adjusted his cigar and said: "Ann, you've got to use the bait the fish like instead of the bait you like."

As communicators, we, too, are fishing -- for our readers' time, for their attention, for their compassion and conviction. Just like my grandfather, if we want to be stars in our profession, we need to use the bait our "fish" like, not the bait we like.

To do that, you need to think like a reader.

One person who understood how readers think was Wilbur Schramm. Schramm was a communication expert who devised a formula to explain how people decide to read something. He defined that decision-making method as:

EXPECTATION OF REWARD [div] EFFORT REQUIRED

In other words, Schramm said, people are most likely to read if the reward they expect is much greater than the effort. And they are least likely to read if the effort far outweighs the reward.

Think about it. That probably applies to you, too. You're most likely to read the copy that you get the most out of with the least amount of trouble.

More gain, less pain.

So to the extent that you can raise the expectation of reward for your story, you can increase readership. To the extent that you can reduce the effort required to read your copy, you can increase readership. To the extent that you can do both at the same time, you can more significantly increase readership.

The first step toward enhancing readership is to increase the reward. People will read if the reward is large enough.

What constitutes a reward of reading? Entertainment is one reward, but it's the second -- and not a very close second -- carrot the reader seeks. The No. 1 prize is a benefit to the reader: a benefit like solving a problem or filling a need.

As sales expert Al Cimberg says, there are two steps to selling something: "1) Find out the prospect's problem. 2) Solve it." The same could be said for selling a reader on reading your copy.

The first thing the reader wants to know about your copy is "What's in It for Me?" (Advertising experts long ago shortened this term to WIIFM, pronounced "wiffum.")

Think like your readers. Your customer readers don't care that your company is putting $100 million more into R&D this year. They care whether that means their computer will be faster and easier to use. Your employee readers don't care that the company is adding $10 million to the profit-sharing coffers. They want to know whether that means they'll be able to retire early.

"Nobody wants a quarter-inch drill," sales guru Zig Ziglar points out. "What they want is a quarter-inch hole."

So start beefing up the reward by focusing your copy on benefits to the reader.

One way to get to the benefits and increase the reward of reading your piece is to make your copy "FAB" -- translating your message from FEATURES into ADVANTAGES into BENEFITS. FEATURES A feature is a tangible attribute of your product, service, program or idea. In the case of a kitchen chair, a feature might be that the chair has little rubber bumpers on the bottom of each leg.

Do customers buy features? No.

Do readers buy features when deciding to read something?

Not likely.

That's why you must translate them into ...

ADVANTAGES An advantage is the reason the feature is important. For the kitchen chair, the advantage might be that the little rubber bumpers on the bottom of each leg keep the chairs from skidding.

Do customers buy advantages? No.

Do readers buy advantages when deciding to read something? Not likely.

That's why you must translate them into ...

BENEFITS A benefit is what the feature will do for you. To come up with the benefit, finish the sentence: "That means you will..." In selling the chair, the benefit might be: "That means you will never find skidmarks on your floors again."

Do customers buy benefits? Yes.

Do readers buy benefits when deciding to read something? Yes.

The problem is, most readers can't get from "little rubber bumpers" to "no more skidmarks" by themselves. In fact, sales research tells us that something like 70 percent of our audiences cannot make the translation, according to Linda Miller, president of The Marketing Coach.

So don't rely on your readers to translate. That's your job. And you'll be most successful at it if you approach your subject from the readers' perspective. Ask: "What's the benefit to the reader?"

Having trouble getting from the feature to the benefit? Ask your subject matter experts: "What happens if our customers buy this product or service? What happens if they don't?" Or: "What happens if our employees get behind this program or policy? What happens if they don't?"

Keep asking those questions, and you'll start hitting benefits like: "make more money," "save more time" and "look more like Cindy Crawford while following an all-Twix-bar diet."

"Would you rather read a letter labeled 'Dues Notice' or 'Your opportunity to receive many new support, educational and marketing opportunities for the coming year'?" asks marketing expert Jeffrey Gitomer.

Once you've entered the benefits zone, make your benefits specific. Be concrete. Quantify the value of the benefit.

Instead of: "You'll win with this new product," try "Cut fees by 27 percent and get your answer within 24 hours." That's because features and advantages -- 27 percent off, one-day service -- are the way we support or "prove" the benefits.

Lead with the benefits, marketing experts counsel. Substantiate with the features.

Sometimes, the sad truth is, there is no "WIIFM." In that case, see if you can at least answer the question "WIITM?" or "What is it to me?"

One great example of answering "WIITM?" was the moving billboard that used to tally the national debt in Times Square. The last three digits spun so quickly that they were barely visible because the debt was mounting so fast.

That's a fascinating piece of communication in itself.

But the spectacular thing about the billboard was a second, smaller number. It measured "Your family's share." Every hour or so, this total nudged up another few cents. If you're like most people, this was the number you found more compelling. That's because the communicators behind this billboard knew how to think like a reader, how to answer the WIITM.

Another master of thinking like a reader is Al Neuharth. He created USA Today's unique editorial style on the belief that the more personal the presentation, the more likely readers are to notice the information, read it and care about it.

So when other newspapers trumpeted the story: "Death Rate Drops," USA Today's headline said: "We're Living Longer."

That's WIITM.

Ann Wylie heads Wylie Communications Inc., Kansas City, Mo.

COPYRIGHT 2001 International Association of Business Communicators
COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group