Finding the Best Benefit
by Andrew Shedden
In our last issue I provided you with a somewhat ridiculous example to illustrate the danger and futility of stressing the wrong benefit in marketing communications. In this issue you'll learn how to correctly determine the best benefit.
Make sure you have an outward focus
Prior to determining what constitutes your best benefit you need to address the issue of focus.
In many companies a great deal of time and effort is expended creating and articulating their company culture. Within reason, I'm all in favour of the important and unifying role performed by mission statements and company culture. In my experience this exercise can often become a painfully protracted bit of navel gazing.
There is a real risk that accompanies an inward focus of your company. The primary concerns shared by your prospects have very little to do with whether or not your company has a "Casual Friday" dress code. Most prospects aren't terribly concerned about the types of computers you have, or the size of your new offices, or the fact that you've lost no workdays due to injury. Prospects are concerned about what you can do to solve their problems. To that end, make sure the focus of all of your marketing communications material is outwardly directed and predominantly customer-centric.
Features versus benefits
Prior to determining your best benefit it's advisable to have a clear distinction in your mind between features and benefits. Avid readers of this newsletter realize that the biggest marketing mistake made by most companies is poor positioning. The second biggest mistake is stressing features rather than benefits in their marketing communications. If you look at most marketing communications with a critical eye you will notice ineffective feature-laden (leaden) copy.
What's the difference?
The simplest way of determining a benefit is to follow up any articulated feature of your product or service by asking yourself the question "So what?' The following examples will help with this distinction.
Feature:
"The new Canyonero sport utility comes with an alcohol disablement system. You need to use a combination of eyeball recognition and Breathalyzer to start the vehicle."
Benefit:"If you're teenage son is out on the town he won't be able to start the Canyonero if there is a trace of alcohol on his breath."
Feature:
"Professor Camper, our widgets come with a lifetime warranty."
Benefit:"When you're camping in the Interior of British Columbia you can rest assured that you may continue to focus on your anthropological fieldwork. If you are yet again being chased by an enraged Sasquatch and break your widget you will have a new one delivered to your tent in one hour."
How do you discover the best benefit?
Once you have made a commitment to an outward focus and have begun to articulate what you believe to be your best benefit you need to test your findings. But how to you ensure that you haven't incorrectly identified the best benefit?
Should you get out the crystal ball?
Should you call your local market research company and spend a pile of cash?
Actually, the best way to uncover the benefit most sought after by your target market is to simply ask.
Ask your current clients
The best source of information is your current clients. Most of your clients are happy to tell you exactly what benefits they seek from a company such as yours. They are also happy to tell you what benefits they consider to be less than important.
Look around and observe other companies
"Me too" positioning means nothing as has been stressed in previous newsletters. This is not to say that you shouldn't be a good and observant student of your competitors' benefits. Common benefits will be stressed by all of your competitors and will provide you with clues. If you see the way that everyone is zigging you can zag.
Ask your prospects
Contacting prospects for their opinions on benefits is a great and low-pressure way of starting the sales relationship.
Ask your fellow workers
You may be pleasantly surprised by the knowledge residing in the heads of your fellow employees. It can really be worth your while to ask a fellow employee for thoughts on what constitutes the best benefit. Make sure that you ask someone whose primary job isn't in the marketing or sales department. Oftentimes these are people who can see the forest and the trees.
How do I ask?
Asking can be as simple as making a quick phone call or designing and administrating a survey.
If you decide to go the survey route keep a few points in mind:
Anonymity works best so they'll feel free to answer
Surveys should be created professionally
There should be a reward or incentive for completing the survey
Provide on line or written survey with reward that can be redeemed later
Telephone, Mail, Fax, and Online methods are available
