A to Z of Marketing - B: Benefits

If A is for "Ask," then undoubtedly B is for "Benefits."

Understanding and articulating the benefit (or benefits) that your product or service provides for your customer are essential to successful marketing. This often requires a hearty measure of analysis and immersion. Put yourself in the customer's shoes: how will this benefit me?

Ninety-percent of what I see is clumsy, wordy marketing communications filled with these three losing propositions:

1- discussion of features (too vaugue, too much jargon, unclear)
2- unsubstantiated claims (oh yeah ... how so? prove it!)
3- qualifiers, weasel words and half-claims (may provide, may improve, works better than)

Avoid the aforementioned marketing pitfalls. Instead, focus your thinking, your copy and your overall presentation on the deep-rooted benefits. Will this product or service ...

• Save me time?
• Save me money?
• Make me healthier?
• Cause me to become more well-liked by my family and friends?

To get the marketing right ... and to get the message right, you have to distill your thinking and refine your analysis down to the benefit level. Remember that it is a noisy, crowded, cluttered, interruption filled world. Your marketing message must resonate, cutting through all of this junk, with clearly presented benefit statements.

For more on benefits - check out this post from our archives (one of the most popular of all time)