The Writers For Hire, Inc., International is devoted to bridging the language and culture gap between entrepreneurs and established companies in China and potential markets in the English-speaking world.

Our company provides expert translation and English language writing, editing, print, and web services to Chinese energy and high-tech manufacturing companies seeking entry into English-speaking markets worldwide. Our account executives are based in Beijing, China and the United States. We will provide you and your company with personalized strategic communications counsel, speech presentation and marketing services to ensure your firm’s success.

For Further Information, please contact Nik Ma (Ma Yinan) or Dr. Arielle Emmett.

隆重介绍暨艾素珊博士加入The Writers for Hire携手开拓中国商业文书写作市场我们的目标:The Writers for Hire International,致力于帮助有开拓西方市场意愿的中方企业消除外语商业文书上的语言壁垒和文化差异。

我公司现阶段为有意愿打开西方市场的中方能源、高科技制造公司提供专业的英语写作、翻译、编辑、纸媒协作等服务。

我公司在中国北京以及美国均设有客户经理。为确保我方客户在企业传播战略上的成功,我们同时还提供私人企业战略咨询服务、演讲培训和市场营销咨询服务。

了解详细信息请联系:Nik Ma 或者 艾素珊博士。

Yinan (Nik) Ma
Nik Ma is our new China Marketing & Communications Specialist based in Beijing. A recent graduate from Northwestern University with a Master of Science degree in Communication, Nik is a Chinese national and native speaker. He excels in all aspects of bilingual communications –public speaking, media relations, writing, and client services. As our chief China liaison, Nik will serve as translator and account executive working closely on Chinese business with senior editor and China partner, Dr. Arielle Emmett.

Phone 手机:15010320519

WeChat 微信:nikynma

Email 邮箱:[email protected]

Dr. Arielle Emmett 艾素珊博士
Arielle Emmett joined The Writers for Hire after a 30-year career in science, technology, and international journalism education. Early in her career, during the Watergate era, Arielle was selected as a journalism intern for The New York Times columnist William Safire, and she was a correspondent for Newsweek. She has worked as an editor for Science Digest, as a reporter and features staff writer for the Detroit Free Press, and as a columnist for The Philadelphia Inquirer and The American Journalism Review. She also has held senior editor and editor-in-chief positions at leading technical magazines and was a 10-year contributing editor at The Scientist. Arielle’s work has been published in Parents, Ms., OMNI, and Toronto Globe & Mail, among other publications. In 2011 she completed her doctoral dissertation in visual media and iconic photography at the University of Maryland. Since then, Arielle has taught science communications and on-line journalism at Temple and Drexel Universities, International College Beijing, and University of Hong Kong.

Phone 电话:0016107429310

WeChat 微信:aisushan59

Email 邮箱:[email protected]

Skype:arielle.emmett

Request A Quote
or
Call 713-465-6860


Copywriting 101: Features vs. Benefits

A good copywriter can instantly identify the difference between a feature and a benefit. Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon for that difference to get a bit fuzzy in web copy. So, how do features differ from benefits.

Features physically describe what your product or service entails. It might mean a watertight seal, 24-hour service, or 8 GB of RAM. Whatever the case may be, features are the things that make your product or service unique.

Benefits, on the other hand, explain how the feature is useful or beneficial to the customer. Your copy about benefits should help potential customers answer questions like “why do I need 8 GB of RAM?” or “how will your 24-hour service help my business?”

So, when you’re writing, which do you want to put more emphasis on? The answer is that both features and benefits are very important, but you need to spend more time explaining your benefits.

By explaining benefits – and how each benefit affects your customers – you are essentially educating and persuading your customer at the same time. Basically, a feature without a benefit is nothing. When explaining the benefit of your feature, your copy needs to be targeted to your specific audience, to clearly and concisely give readers major insights into the product.

One way I like to explain a feature in copy is to lay it out plain and simple. For example: “Company X’s widget has a glow-in-the-dark dial (FEATURE). This means that our widget is perfect to use at night and to take with you on camping trips (BENEFIT).” One of my favorite phrases to use is “this means that,” because it lets you directly translate the benefit of your feature.

Another way to help separate features and benefits is to use a chart. You can do this as a preliminary brainstorming exercise to organize your thoughts before you write, or just paste it up on your website as a great visual aid:

Feature
On-call industry experts

Benefit
With over 70 years of combined experience, our expert advice helps you solve software issues in minutes.

Feature
24-hour service

Benefit
No matter what time it is or where you are in the world, there’s always someone available to help you troubleshoot technical issues.

Effective copy will clearly outline the features and benefits of whatever you’re selling – and it will convince the customer to buy at the same time. Rev up your homepage, brochure, sales emails, and other marketing collateral by making sure that both your features AND benefits are clearly oriented toward your customers.

And, if you’ve got any tips or thoughts about features and benefits, leave a comment and let me know!

Getting Situated: Creating Your Ideal Work Pattern

Hemingway made sure he wrote no less than 500 words a day, every day.  Faulkner always drank whiskey when he wrote, while Balzac is known to have sometimes consumed more than ten cups of espresso per day while he was working.  Thomas Wolfe allegedly preferred to write while standing up.  Getting sloshed while working will not make you the next Faulkner.  Still, you may find that you’ll produce better, more effective work under certain circumstances.  Here are a few suggestions for creating the best writing conditions for you:

Tune In or Tune Out

Some people need absolute silence in order to work. Go into a quiet room, shut the door, and even turn on a fan or a white noise machine to reduce ambient noise.

Some people prefer to have a little company while they work, perhaps with some inspiring music, or just the soothing murmur of a turned-low TV.

Whether noise is bothersome or helpful, you can easily manipulate your environment to suit your needs.  If you are working in public, headphones can offer gentle background noise or mask the hustle of your surroundings.

 “”

Easy on the Eyes

Your mother’s admonition that you’ll “strain your eyes” if you try to read or write in dim light is really just an old wives’ tale.  In fact, you’ll no more strain your eyes trying to work in dim light than you would strain your ears if you try to listen really hard.  However, dim light will make you have to work a little harder to see.  So, make sure you have enough light for you to comfortably see what you’re doing.  Many modern laptops come with backlit keyboard options. Just check your manual to see if yours has one, and how to turn it on.  It comes in handy if you want to work on an overnight airplane flight, or while your spouse is trying to sleep next to you.

Comfortable Creativity

Speaking of sleeping, I prefer to write while in bed, propped up against lots of pillows, with my computer on my lap.  If my body is comfortable, my mind is able to concentrate on the work at hand.  But perhaps other writers might find themselves too comfortable in my preferred position and may wind up drifting off to sleep.  So, perhaps try sitting up at a desk or a table, back straight, feet flat on the floor, hands poised above the keyboard at the ready.  It may take some trial and error, but you’ll find your most comfortable writing position, probably somewhere in between my cozy-in-bed style and Wolfe’s standing up.

All the great novelists will admit to at least one little habit that binds them to their work, which makes it their own.  Joan Didion says that: “when I’m near the end of the book, [I] sleep in the same room with it. . . . Somehow the book doesn’t leave you when you’re asleep right next to it.”  But before you get to those really personal idiosyncrasies, you have to start the basic creature comforts of writing.  And once you satisfy your sensory needs, your thoughts will turn inward and you’ll find yourself doing what you set out to do: write.