If marketing efforts are to result in sales, it is important to distinguish between the "features" of a product and the "benefits" to be gained from acquiring a product with those features. The reason it is important to make the distinction is because people do not buy "features" although from a producer's point of view it can look like that.
So, if people don't buy "features", what do they buy? The answer is: they buy "benefits". When people receive benefits, they feel good. Feeling is an experience that generates an emotion. Features, per se, cannot generate emotions, but the benefits provided by those features can. This is a key to buying. It is also the key to selling.
Let's acknowledge a fact: people (normal people, anyway) don't usually buy what makes them feel bad. It is a well-established fact that people buy from emotion and justify their purchase with logic. They buy what makes them "feel good". It is the mental part of anticipating or achieving the benefits that makes people "feel".
Say, I am an end-user/customer/consumer who is in your target market. What, about a generic product (any product), is important to me? What, about your version of the product, in particular, is important to me?
Assuming I like the "features" of a product, what "benefits" do each of its features provide me? Assuming I like the "features" of a product that you sell, what "benefits" do each of those features provide me? Compared to anybody else's product, what is there about your product, in particular, that will make me feel good (psychologically)? In other words, what emotional needs does your product fulfill for me? What is there about your product, in particular, that will make me feel "gooder" than buying somebody else's product?
It is the answers to the above questions that will help to identify in easy to understand, meaningful ways how to differentiate your product from your competitors' products. And, after all, it is the differentiation that establishes what mental picture the brand name will conjure up in the minds of customers and prospective customers (the anticipation of the good feelings to be felt from buying one of yours) . Isn't that one of the things that branding is about?
So, if people don't buy "features", what do they buy? The answer is: they buy "benefits". When people receive benefits, they feel good. Feeling is an experience that generates an emotion. Features, per se, cannot generate emotions, but the benefits provided by those features can. This is a key to buying. It is also the key to selling.
Let's acknowledge a fact: people (normal people, anyway) don't usually buy what makes them feel bad. It is a well-established fact that people buy from emotion and justify their purchase with logic. They buy what makes them "feel good". It is the mental part of anticipating or achieving the benefits that makes people "feel".
Say, I am an end-user/customer/consumer who is in your target market. What, about a generic product (any product), is important to me? What, about your version of the product, in particular, is important to me?
Assuming I like the "features" of a product, what "benefits" do each of its features provide me? Assuming I like the "features" of a product that you sell, what "benefits" do each of those features provide me? Compared to anybody else's product, what is there about your product, in particular, that will make me feel good (psychologically)? In other words, what emotional needs does your product fulfill for me? What is there about your product, in particular, that will make me feel "gooder" than buying somebody else's product?
It is the answers to the above questions that will help to identify in easy to understand, meaningful ways how to differentiate your product from your competitors' products. And, after all, it is the differentiation that establishes what mental picture the brand name will conjure up in the minds of customers and prospective customers (the anticipation of the good feelings to be felt from buying one of yours) . Isn't that one of the things that branding is about?
No comments:
Post a Comment