matter what type of business you have, in your marketing materials you MUST sell benefits, not features. People only care about one thing, "what's in it for me?"
A feature is a characteristic of your product or service. A benefit is what that feature does
for a customer. Here are a couple examples of features and benefits:
Feature: At Consolidated Bank, there's NEVER a charge for using other bank's ATMs.
Benefits: You can get cash wherever you are, when you need it, and save money.
Feature: At ABC Employment Service, we test applicants office skills, such as typing speed.
Benefits: When we send you an applicant, they meet your minimum requirements, and you don't have to waste valuable time testing them yourself.
Here's a little trick for finding the benefit within the feature. List a feature then ask yourself, "So what?" What does that feature do for my customers? For example:
Feature: Personalized service.
Benefit: The benefit of our personalized service is that we take the time to understand your needs."
Don't stop there. So what? What does working with people who take the time to understand their customers needs do for your customers?
Benefit: Since we take the time to understand your needs, we can better anticipate potential problems and save you time, money and aggravation.
Bingo! Almost everyone likes to save time and money, and less aggravation is always good, so this is a real benefit statement.
Benefits Categories:
Though benefits can be described in a million ways, there are really only five main categories:
1. Convenience: Saves time or effort.
2. Saves money or increases money.
3. Provides peace of mind.
4. Appeals to image or ego.
5. Fun or enjoyment.
In addition, one single feature can have lots of benefits to one customer. Benefit statements don't necessarily have to include one feature and one benefit, each.
Also, keep in mind, just like beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so too are benefits. One person might buy an SUV because he needs room to transport five kids, another person buys the same SUV because she likes th.comfortable ride and enjoys sitting up high overlooking other cars.
Another powerful psychological strategy is using
a technique that appears to lower the price of your product or service, without actually doing so.
For example, if you charge $1000 per year for your product or service, you can break it down for the reader so that they understand it's really only $19.23 per week." It's the
exact same price, however, $19.23 per week is a lot easier to psychologically digest and justify than $1000.
If you would like to start utilizing the immense power of psychology immediately in all your
marketing efforts, I highly recommend the following books:
"Compelling Selling: A Framework for Persuasion," by Philip R. Lund and "Secrets of Closing the Sale," by Zig Ziglar
Since they're all-time classics, you should be able to find both both books at your local bookstore or on Amazon.com. Enjoy!
About the author:
Marketing Basics specializes in writing articles that teach,
explain and define basic marketing principles and
techniques.
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