Imagine this: You arrive home from a day out to find water leaking from under your kitchen sink and rapidly spreading across your newly installed wood floor. You grab your phone book and call a plumber, who happens to be in the neighborhood and shows up within a few minutes. So far, so good.
She sets her bulging bag on your counter, and begins to sketch out her background for you — when she first decided to become a plumber, where she received training, with whom she apprenticed, how long she’s had her business. Then, she opens her tool kit, and starts to describe in detail the purpose and function of each piece of equipment. Meanwhile, the water continues to spread — now it’s approaching your new carpeting in the living room!
Aren’t you excited to learn about all these features?
Of course, no plumber in her right mind would behave this way — that is, if she wanted to have a successful business! The very first thing she’d do is find that leak and stop it a quickly. The benefits — of minimizing the damage to newly installed flooring, of saving the customer money, etc. — are evident, and need to be immediately addressed.
One of the fatal mistakes business owners often make in their communication and marketing materials is focusing on the features of their product or service rather than the benefits. They spend too much time highlighting information that doesn’t address what their (potential) customers actually want.
Take a look at the e-mails, sales letters, web site copy, commercials, display ads, etc. that regularly cross your path. How much space is devoted to describing features — business owner bio, company history, how a product works compared to a competitor’s, and so on. As a potential consumer, how much of that matters to you? If, for example, you’re looking for a business coach, do you really care which coaching school they attended or what their business philosophy is? What do you REALLY want to know? For me, it’s usually about the kind of results they’ve helped others produce, and how their coaching will be of immediate help with the areas in my business that are either most challenging or in need of deeper skill development.
Now, here’s your 15-minutes-a-day Marketing Mambo activity for this week. It’s a 2-parter.
First, start studying others’ marketing material with a critical eye and hear. Observe how they present benefits vs. features. Especially interesting are successful infomercials — they wouldn’t continue to air if they weren’t bringing in the big bucks and tons of new customers. Look at the ads for Nutri-Systems, Pro-Active, and similar products. Also pay attention to e-mails and sales pages of successful Internet marketers. Look for the benefits — you’ll see them prominently highlighted in formats such as testimonials, before and after comparisons, and in sentences with lots of action words.
Part 2 is about YOU and your marketing materials. Review your web site, e-mails, sales pages — anything you’ve put out there to attract new customers and keep current ones active. Do your messages focus more on benefits or features? What needs to be adjusted?
If you’re not sure what your customers want, what their most pressing needs are, find out! It’s the only way to present the correct benefits that your ideal clients are looking for and are ready to spend money on acquiring — from YOU.
