I'm a copywriting newbie...and I am officially stuck. I was wondering if you could help.

I'm writing a sales letter for an all natural men's multi-vitamin.

Trying to figure the benefits of this product has me so worked up I'm tearin my hair out by the handfuls. Please help.

Here's my problem: Many of the vitamins and nutrients in this product promote and support healthy functions for the same parts of the body.

For example:

Iron promotes prostate health, but so does potassium and sarsaparilla root...
Choline supports healthy brain and memory functions, but so does ginko...
Chromium supports muscle growth, and so does hydrilla verticallata.

Do you get the picture. I knew you would.

So here's the million dollar question,"How do I write benefits for this product?"

I know the benefit of a product is what it does for my prospect, but if many of my ingredients support/promote the same heath functions does it make sense to provide benefits for them all?

Severett(

You've got to learn to say the same thing in many different ways.

Describe each benefit using unique words.

Paint a different picture for each benefit.

Godammit...

Iron, potassium and sarsaparilla root promote prostate health

Choline and ginko supports healthy brain and memory functions

Chromium and hydrilla verticallata support muscle growth

This could turn into an interesting thread ...because it's more about copywriting research than just juggling words.

As you probably know, Centrum is running ads about how their mixture promotes the best absorption. Centrum's proposition is that -- while everyone has the same vitamins -- the combinations are the special sauce. Vitamin C and Selenium. Calcium and D. Now, the weak part of this is they don't fully explain if they "combine" these in some other way than putting them all in the same pill.

A better way to give this a copy angle is to explain vitamin D helps maintain bone strength by helping the body absorb calcium. These two nutrients must work together: Calcium alone will not maintain bone without enough vitamin D. Centrum should say something like how they chemically bind these vitamin pairs together and precision layer these vitamin pairs inside the pills so you never get Calcium without just enough D to insure proper absorbtion.

Other manufacturers explain most vitamins and supplements go right through your body, creating very expensive waste products. You're literally flushing your money down the toilet.

For this it's pretty obvious you've got to promote that a man's body has specific needs. What makes the manufacturer think this is a men's vitamin? Why is Iron, potassium and sarsaparilla particularly effective in prostate health? What about the proportion of one ingredient to others?

Sounds like you're trying to write copy off the ingredient list rather than digging into the actual reasons why behind the ingredient panel. For example, most vitamin C is manufactured synthetically in China. Natural sources might be a better way to get your vitamin C. And currently China's two-step process is being challenged by a new one-step process.

A century ago Claude Hopkins went into the beer making process -- using everything from artesian wells to cleaning bottles with live steam in copy explaining beer making to a 19th century audience. He did the heavy lifting by doing the research into the reason why behind the ingredient list.

severett,

GROUP your ingredients to show how your special combinations maximize the effects.

Plus... as someone said... learn how to restate the same thing in a different way.

And more importantly than all that is GO TO THE NEXT LEVEL OF BENEFITS.

Sure, XYZ helps your memory, which is a benefit... but what benefit does the customer get out of having a sharp memory? That's your REAL BENEFIT.

Exactly. And that's why you must know exactly who your target prospect is and how they think.

Bingo! Vin hit the nail on the head.

Here's a little trick taught by copywriter Peter Stone: each time you state the benefit, add these two words, "so that..." and then complete the sentence.

For example:

Ginko supports healthy brain and memory functions, so that you stay sharp and focused so that you can be a lot more productive at work so that you can advance in your career a lot faster knowing you're on top of everything so that you can make more money, enjoy more freedom, and have more job security so that...

That could have turned another way depending on the answer you give it (which is why it's good to repeat this exercise). For example:

Ginko supports healthy brain and memory functions, so that you stay sharp and focused so that you can lower the risks of senility, Alzheimer's disease, and other degenerative diseases of the brain so that you won't be placed in a nursing home or place the burden of your care on your children so that grow old with peace of mind (and enjoy and remember those years, too!), so that...

Remember, these are JUST examples. Do your fact checking first. And come up with your own and/or expand on them.

My angle would be to stay close to the product. People are already sold on becoming healthier, and also largely on using supplements to attain that goal. You could add a small paragraph about how overfarming has created less vitamin- and nutrient filled food, but the main selling job is in the product itself.

You mention that your ingredients promote health in 'about' the same areas. I would find out the exact workings of each ingredient and go by that. I'm sure ginko has a very different way of nurturing the prostate then another ingredient. Tell them what the 'secret' of each ingredient is, and (also very important) why you chose this mix of ingredients and why it's everything they need.

They gotta be confident that when they use your product, they've got their bases covered. They have to TRUST fully in that what they're taking is good and leaves no weaknesses in their health. This is more of a feeling that you should transmit than actually saying this explicitly - use proof to say it implicitly.

GOod luck.
Erik

Is this your assignment for AWAI?

I don't know Peter Stone, but I use a similar phrase... "Which means..."