All Posts Tagged With: "benefits"

(Third in a Series)

It’s a simple concept that has been around for years but one that bears repeating here. Persuasive copy intended for a consumer audience should come down heavily on the side of benefits. Customers don’t necessarily want to know how your product works, only that it will save them money or time, make them feel better or solve some other need or want. It doesn’t matter that a clothes washer has a 5 hp motor, only that it makes clothes cleaner faster and at a better price than the competition.

Persuasive copy aimed a B2B audience, however, can be different, perhaps a 50-50 mix of features and benefits, perhaps even a bit more titled toward features. Specialists may care about the technicalities and will understand the benefits. Still, for every feature you include should be able to point out a benefit to the user — clearly explaining the feature makes the benefit more believable.

Features are factual statements about the product or service being promoted. But features aren’t what entice customers to buy. That’s where benefits come in. A benefit answers the question “What’s in it for me?,” meaning the feature provides the customer with something of value.

Here are three ways to determine what benefit your product or services produces:

Know your customer. Gather as much information as possible on each market segment. You have to gather demographic data (age, sex, household income, family size, number of credit cards, media preferences and so on) and psychographic data (value system, primary hot button, behavioral style, response mechanisms, fears, passions and so on). Demographic data is fairly easy to come by – observation and conversation are two good methods. Getting inside your customer’s head is a different matter – most small businesses can’t afford to conduct in-depth surveys. You may have to observer and make some assumptions based on external factors. While this is not foolproof, if you put together enough observations, it is possible to derive a reasonably accurate picture of what motivates an individual.

Change your point-of-view. Step out of your role as the provider of a product or service and think like a consumer. You fully understand what you are offering – they may not. Put yourself in their shoes as the buyer. Approach your own product or service as if you’d never seen it. Then ask yourself – and anyone else who will answer – “What benefits will that feature bring me?”

Think in terms of results. There’s nothing wrong with the term “benefits,” but if you refocus the problem to think in terms of “results,” the situation becomes clearer. Results go one step beyond benefits. What is result of the benefit? When you use this “results” approach to discovering your business’ benefits, you can be sure the marketing messages you use to reach your prospects will be right on target.

(Next: Differentiate Yourself)

Popularity: 32% [?]

I finally caught the new Microsoft ad featuring Jerry Seinfeld. About the best thing I can say is that it’s not a ripoff of anything Apple has done, contrary to what Bill Gates and his henchman do with software.

I know Seinfeld made a fortune with his show about nothing in particular. That’s the sort of the feeling I get from this commercial. It’s 90 tortuous seconds about…nothing in particular. Two well-known but essentially boring guys put into artificially ridiculous situations.

At least Apple manages to interject some product benefits in its Mac vs. PC ads while being entertaining. I know nothing more about Vista — that’s what they are advertising, right? — than I did before I saw the ad.

What’s amazing is that the Microsoft brain trust probably reviewed a dozen concepts from Crispin Porter and Bogusky – the same creative team behind the creepy Burger King commercials – before deciding to sink $300 million into this campaign. Imagine how bad the others might have been.

You know it’s a dud when a Microsoft spokesman had to offer an explanation to the bewildered public about the strategy behind the weird campaign: “This first set of ads features Bill Gates and comedian Jerry Seinfeld. Think of these ads as an icebreaker to reintroduce Microsoft to viewers in a consumer context. Later this month, as the campaign moves into its next phase, we’ll go much deeper in telling the Windows story and celebrating what it can do for consumers at work, at play and on-the-go. At that time, I’ll be back to share more information about our plans to further strengthen the bond between consumers and Windows – one of the most amazing products, businesses and brands of all time, and, with the right tenacity, passion and agility from all of us, a story that has many great chapters to come.

Yeah, I can just sense the anticipation as people wait for the next installment.

I’m not the only one panning Microsoft’s effort. It’s pretty much getting blasted all over the Internet. The folks over at Techdirt have compiled some of the best critiques.

Of course, Microsoft is probably happy with the amount of attention the ads are getting, negative or not. But I can’t imagine they sold one more copy of Vista today based on the ad. And isn’t that what it’s all about?

Popularity: 16% [?]