Is Your Marketing Message Based on Features or Benefits?

One of the first skills that I learned as a retail sales associate was the difference between features and benefits. Understanding and applying this fundamental concept is a major component to successful selling.

For the uninitiated, features are the qualities of a product or service. For example, having anti-lock brakes in a car is a feature of that product.
Conversely, benefits are what the consumer gains by using the product or service. With anti-lock brakes, the benefit is increased safety.

When evaluating a product or service, the purchaser is always focused on the benefits (rather than the features) even if they don't know it. Using the above example, a car shopper could certainly say "I want a car with anti-lock brakes". But what is the underlying reason for that? It's because they want a safe car, even if that's not exactly how they are expressing themselves.

When preparing your marketing message, it is critical to focus on the real benefits that your product or service conveys to your prospects. Consider the following:

All of the benefits clearly tell the prospect what's in it for them. Would a non-technical person even understand what "802.11n" means? Perhaps not, but "Connect at the fastest speeds" makes a lot of sense to almost anyone.

To extend upon this, the benefits described must match the area of focus of your specific prospect. For example, imagine that you're selling software; a CEO is likely going to be most interested in bottom-line results, such as increasing productivity or getting a competitive edge. A middle-level manager may be most interested in upgrade cycles and technical support options. A staff member might focus on the ease of installation and available training. Each of these classes of prospect will pay different attention to different benefits.

Review YOUR marketing messages and look for any place that you describe a feature but not a benefit and adjust accordingly. You'll be amazed at the difference it can make!