TM 8-1: Reader Benefits

Reader benefits are benefits or advantages readers get by

· Using your services

· Buying your products

· Following your policies

· Adopting your ideas

Good reader benefits are

· Adapted to the audience

· Based on intrinsic advantages

· Supported by clear logic and explained in adequate detail

· Phrased in you-attitude


TM 8-2: Developing Reader Benefits

1. Brainstorm as many benefits as possible.

· Think about the needs and hassles your readers have. How can your product, policy, or service help?

· Deliberately try to think of internal, or intrinsic, motivators. How can your product, policy, or service make the workday better for readers?

2. Develop each benefit in least three to five sentences.

· Show how the features can meet the needs or answer the objections that may motivate your readers.

· Use vivid details and specifics.

· Consider telling a story that shows readers using your product or service to meet their needs.

3. Choose the benefits to use in this letter or memo.

· Choose the benefits that you have developed most effectively and that are realistic for the audience and the organization.

· Choose at least one reader benefit for every subset of your audience.

· Spend your space on less-obvious benefits.

Edit for you-attitude and positive emphasis.

TM 8-3: Developing Reader Benefits:

Advice about Interior Decorating

Needs that many groups will share

· May need advice about decorating: basics: colors, room arrangement, etc.

· May or may not have firm personal tastes

· Probably could use advice about which stores have best quality for the money, whether it's worth waiting for sales, etc.

· May or may not need help with special needs: architectural features of apartment or house, how to display a collection, how to get adequate storage in an apartment or house that doesn't have enough storage space, etc.


TM 8-4: Developing Reader Benefits:

Young people with little money to spend

Needs

· Don't have much furniture—need lots of things

· Furniture they do have is hand-me-down, bought at garage sales, etc.

· Don't have much money

· Need furniture that they can use a long time (in living room today, in family room ten years from now, etc.)

Benefits

1. Advice about how to buy furniture now that will fit into your plans (and your rooms) as your needs change and your furnishings grow

2. Advice about multi-purpose furniture

3. Workshops on how to recycle old furniture, how to refinish furniture, how to make drapes, how to hang wallpaper, how to paint walls, etc.

4. Payment plans that allow you to buy only as much decorating help as you need; credit plans


TM 8-5: Developing Reader Benefits:

People upgrading or adding to their furnishings

Needs

· Want new pieces to fit with old furniture, with pictures, mementoes, etc. Can wait for the right piece at the right price

· Probably are in a permanent apartment or home to which they can make changes: new permanent flooring, built-in bookcases, new wall coverings, etc.

· May or may not want to do the work themselves

Benefits

1. Information about the features that spell quality and long life

2. Advice about how to develop a decorating plan so you can upgrade your furniture gradually

3. Furniture displayed in room settings to give you ideas about accessories, paintings, furniture placement, etc.

4. Advice about where to find unusual knickknacks, paintings, etc.; decorator will track down accessories for the client

5. Trained decorators


TM 8-6: Developing Reader Benefits:

Older people moving from single-family homes into smaller apartments or condominiums

Needs

· Have too much furniture for new place; need to discard some pieces, may want to sell some pieces

· Probably have mementoes, may have collectibles that will need storage or display

· Probably will have children and grandchildren coming to visit

· May need smaller-scale furniture to fit new place; may be ready for new furniture (old may be worn); may need new pieces for storage, multi-purpose use

· Feelings about move may be positive, negative, or mixed

Benefits

1. Advice about storage pieces, multi-purpose furniture (e.g., sofa beds or trundle beds for occasional guests)

2. Advice about how to combine current furniture with new storage pieces or smaller furniture

3. Bulletin Board or Buy-Back Service to allow you to sell furniture you no longer need


TM 8-7: Developing Reader Benefits:

Audience: Builders furnishing model homes

Needs

· Not going to live in the house, so personal preferences don't matter. Want to appeal to as wide an audience as possible

· Want furnishings that will show the house to advantage: make it seem light, airy, roomy, inviting

· Care more about appearance than about quality, durability, etc.

· Are paying for everything on credit, no current income until house is sold

Benefits

1. Advice about latest trends in decorating, about which traditional styles are still popular, etc.

2. Advice about how to make rooms look more spacious, about how colour affects mood, etc.

3. “Everything under one roof”: staff decorators who will choose carpets, drapes, accessories as well as furniture

4. Quantity discounts, delayed payment plans