Page 125 - Duct Tape Marketing

109Chapter 8: Getting Strategic before Getting Creative

Conveying benefits versus features

To be believable, your marketing materials need to make and support a
claim. The easy way is to list your features (the oldest moving company in the
east, under new management, the only manufacturer featuring the X2000
widget, 10-year winner of our industry’s top award, yada yada yada . . .). The
effective way is to turn those features into benefits that you promise to your
customers. The difference between features and benefits is that features are
facts, and benefits are personal outcomes.

Table 8-1 shows you exactly what this crucial difference means.

Table 8-1 Features versus Benefits

Product Feature Benefit Emotional Outcome

Diet soda One calorie Lose weight Look and feel great

Flower Daily exotic imports Send unique floral Satisfaction that
your gift stands out
arrangements presentations and draws attention

Automobile Best crash rating Reduce risk of harm Security that your

in accidents family is safe

Miniature 1.5 cubic feet in size Save dorm room Make room for the
floor’s only big-
microwave space screen TV

Every time you describe a feature of your product or service, you’re talking to
yourself. Every time you describe the benefit that your product or service
delivers, you’re talking to your prospect, because consumers don’t buy the
feature — they buy what the feature does for them. Here are some examples:

ߜ Consumers don’t buy V-8 engines. They buy speed.
ߜ They don’t buy shock-absorbing shoes. They buy walking comfort.
ߜ They don’t buy the lightest laptop computer. They buy the freedom to

work wherever they want.

Follow these steps to translate features into benefits:

1. State your product or business feature.
2. Add the phrase “which means.”
3. Complete the sentence and you are forced to state the benefit.

The Feature + “Which Means” = The Benefit