If you want to improve your marketing efforts, you need to sell the benefits of your product or service.  Sounds simple, but most companies make the mistake of highlighting their features instead. A subtle but huge difference.  Consumers buy benefits.

How do you tell the difference between a feature and a benefit?  Simple:

A FEATURE is a true fact or characteristic of a service or product. Examples of features include:

• Open 24 hours

• Steel-belted radials

• Wireless keyboard

• High-Definition TV

• 500 gigabyte hard drive

A BENEFIT describes how these features help the consumer, how they meet a need; the “What’s in it for me?”

The easiest way to get from feature to benefit is to make a statement about your product or service, then ask “SO WHAT?”  Pretend that you are answering a very skeptical consumer.  Here are examples using the above features:

Product = Restaurant

Feature = Open 24 hours

So What? =

• You can get pancakes anytime

• You can eat on your own schedule

• It gives you freedom

Product = Tires

Feature = Steel-belted Radials

So What? =

• It is safer than other types of tires

• It protects your family

Product = Computer

Feature = 500 gigabyte hard drive

So What? =

• Hold huge amounts of data

• Will not go obsolete as quickly as smaller hard drives

• Smart investment

If you ask a So What and you can still ask So What…keep going, you may not be at a benefit yet. Challenge yourself and don’t stop at 2 or 3 So Whats per feature. Keep going until you are worn out.

The best of these So Whats will form the basis of your marketing program, so take time to create a lengthy list to choose from.  So What?  Improve your marketing, clarify your business position, make more money…

What are some of YOUR features?  I’m good at asking “So What?”!