June 24th, 2010 . 10:26 am
Buying the "Hole" - Part II
Posted by Shustir Blog Entries
by Margo Upson
Put yourselves in your customer's shoes. What might you hope to gain from buying the product or service you're selling? Get past the obvious, and look at intangible benefits. Sell a feeling. Cosmetics or jewelry can make a woman look beautiful, sure, but she buys it because she wants the confidence that goes with it. A minivan has enough seating for a large family and might have high safety ratings, but parents are really interested in convenience.
You can list the "facts" of your product on your packaging or on your website, but that's not going to be enough to really sell your product. How can you convince consumers that it is your product or service that they need? Make two lists, one for features and one for benefits. After you've listed the features, go back and ask yourself why the features are important. Who cares if your product is fast? What problems would that solve for someone? Keep going until you've exhausted your ideas for the benefits, and then sort through what you have written down, discarding the weakest and keeping the most compelling benefits of your product.
Start testing these benefits in web copy, brochures and through other marketing materials. Which benefits (or combination of benefits) are your customers most interested in? Which ones are they responding to with the most enthusiasm? Refine the benefits until you have developed a message that works for you and your company.
Put yourselves in your customer's shoes. What might you hope to gain from buying the product or service you're selling? Get past the obvious, and look at intangible benefits. Sell a feeling. Cosmetics or jewelry can make a woman look beautiful, sure, but she buys it because she wants the confidence that goes with it. A minivan has enough seating for a large family and might have high safety ratings, but parents are really interested in convenience.
You can list the "facts" of your product on your packaging or on your website, but that's not going to be enough to really sell your product. How can you convince consumers that it is your product or service that they need? Make two lists, one for features and one for benefits. After you've listed the features, go back and ask yourself why the features are important. Who cares if your product is fast? What problems would that solve for someone? Keep going until you've exhausted your ideas for the benefits, and then sort through what you have written down, discarding the weakest and keeping the most compelling benefits of your product.
Start testing these benefits in web copy, brochures and through other marketing materials. Which benefits (or combination of benefits) are your customers most interested in? Which ones are they responding to with the most enthusiasm? Refine the benefits until you have developed a message that works for you and your company.
