Dude, It's Marketing

Features versus Benefits, A Case Study

Last week I talked about how many companies list features about their products but nothing about how it benefits their customers. While this seems like one of the basic rules that everyone should follow, I wondered why I keep seeing this rule broken time and time again. I thought it may help to look quickly at a couple of examples.

I could have picked any product to look at but tablets are all the rage so I thought we should look at the  Motorola Xoom versus the Apple iPad, to see if one promotes benefits more than features. When I went to the web pages for both products (which was my only resource for this comparison), I was actually surprised to see that there were no links on either overview page called Benefits. This is not looking good in terms of promoting benefits over features. I was a bit surprised about Apple on this front.

The Motorola Xoom didn't even have a features page but only had Tech Specs. I clicked on the Overview link hoping it would go into some benefits but I was hit right away with the dimensions of the product, the processor speed and the operating system. Feature, feature and feature.

I went back to the Experience page, which was the first one I visited, and it just had more text about the same features (OS, camera resolution, display resolution). The only screen on this page that hinted at a feature was the one about multitasking which was labelled Flexibility. The Compare tab within the Experience page also listed benefits when they compared the Xoom to the iPad but that's a bit late and buried, don't you think?

I was a bit suprised that Apple didn't have a benefits page eitehr but the iPad features page talks about how it is thinner and lighter, 2x faster, has fast graphics for gamers and longer battery life so I can keep going. While the page is talking features, the text clearly illustrates how each of these features will help me rather than going into the technical specs which were on a different page for anyone that really wanted them. The iPad overview page did an even better job of summarizing these features as benefits so not having a benefits page is forgiven as the other pages do a good job of illustrating these.

My quick review of how 2 tech giants approach features versus benefits confirms that selling benefits is key, especially to a consumer market, but not everyone does it. Unless I missed another section of the Motorola site, they have a lot of work to do in this area. Motorola needs to promote the benefits of their tablets and make it obvious. Apple did do a significantly better job in the content to talk about how the features help me or why I care and were specific too, including 2x faster, 9x better graphics performance, or enough juice for one flight across the ocean.

Now, is there any question as to why the iPad is outselling Xoom by a huge margin? Before you slam me in the comments, I'll admit there are many reasons but showing how your product helps people rather than listing a bunch of specs is definitely one of the factors and Apple is one of the best at it.

Features versus Benefits, Why is this so Hard

This shouldn't be so hard but time and time again you see companies list features about their products but nothing about how it benefits their customers. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a feature as "a prominent part or characteristic" or "a special attraction" whereas benefits are defined as "something that promotes well-being" or a "useful aid".

Looking at this another way, the feature is what the product does whereas the benefit is how the feature helps them or why the customer should care about that particular feature. Even the most techy person among us, despite their strong objections, will buy benefits not features.

For example, listing the speed of the processor, the amount of memory, the resolution of the display, etc. are all features. The fact that you can do things faster, store more data, watch better quality videos are some of the benefits of the above. What do you think someone is more likely to buy, 16 GB of memory or the ability to store thousands of songs or photos?

Remember back when Apple launched the original iPod. The main marketing message was "1,000 songs in your pocket". Benefit. No mention of the size of the hard drive in the unit which is the feature that made this possible. Do you think the iPod would be where it is today, if Apple had talked about a 5GB MP3 player? (OK, I can hear the objections already, there was more to the iPod success than this tag line but it played a key role. Everyone understood how the iPod would help them.)

So here's how you develop the benefits of your product or service. Believe it or not, you start with the features. Write down all the key features for your product and, if you need to, add a short explanation for each. Now, think about how each feature helps the user of your product. This is not why you think it's cool but how it helps your potential or existing customers. Does the feature help them do things faster, do more, save money, make them money, etc.?

But you're not done yet, these are pretty general statements that many can claim. Make these benefits more specific, for example, can you now store 10x as many photos, can you save 20%, can you make $10 per subscriber. Apple didn't just say you could take songs with you but it was 1,000 songs in your pocket which was a lot, at the time, if you think that a portable CD player, which was larger is physical size, held a single CD which had 10-15 songs. More songs, meant more CDs and more size.

And that comparison between the iPod and a CD player illustrates another step too. Once you have your first list of features. Look at your competitors (direct and indirect) to see if your benefits are significantly different and better. If your benefits are not 10x better or something they do not offer then think about another way to position that feature or maybe it doesn't make the list at all.

You're almost there, with the final step being to simplify the list and the language you use so the prospect can quickly and easily see how it helps them. Following this process, you should have 3-5 key benefits for your product. That's all you want to talk about. The features are now relegated to some spec sheet someplace for the techy that needs to know (There is a time and place for features).

Now was that really so hard? So why don't all companies do it?

The Keys to Your Marketing Success

Last week, Om Malik (@om), the founder of GigaOm, wrote a post called What Makes a Hit (Consumer) Internet Service where he outlines the three things that are common across many successful consumer Internet services:

1. They have a clear purpose.
2. They are simple to use.
3. They are fun to use or facilitate some type of entertainment or both

Now Om argues that you do not have to have all three but your chances of success are much higher if you do. He looks at Google, Netflix, Yelp, Groupon, Skype, Facebook while wondering if Quora and Foursquare have what it takes. As you can see, the case is compelling for these elements being the key to a hit Internet service.

As I read the article, I immediately realized that a clear purpose, being simple and having fun are also the keys to your marketing success. There will come a time and place where you will need to launch your product publicly and run a marketing campaign that generates leads or builds awareness of both for your start-up. It is then that you must remember these three elements (purpose, simple, fun) as the keys to making your marketing a hit. Let's take a quick look at how each element applies.

Your marketing efforts must communicate your clear purpose consistently through the value proposition for your product or service. Without your audience understanding how your company is different and how it will help them, then your product or service will be one of many and not a hit.

Too many products, web sites and marketing material are difficult to understand or use. Making things simple is difficult and a lot of work but it's worth it. You need to ensure your message and everything you do in marketing shows your product or service as simple to use and easy to understand.

Now having fun should come naturally to marketing but make sure your marketing is also fun for the audience. No one wants to read an eBook that's boring. No one wants to watch a video that doesn't grab their attention. It's not about you having fun, it's about making your marketing fun for your audience.

It shouldn't be surprising that the keys to a hit Internet company are the same as the keys to your marketing success. But Om boiled it down so well that I wanted to share these points and show how they needs to be apply to your marketing as well. The successful companies don't lose site of these elements so neither should you.

Being Credible Leads to More Sales

Over the course of the past year or more, I've written a series of blog post on the importance of credible marketing and how you can make your marketing more credible. While I haven't covered this topic in the past few months, it's still extremely important to me and should be to you as you build your start-up.

Last week, I read a post on Michael Maslansky's Language of Trust blog, which is also the name of his great book by the same name, called What's Your Credibility Quotient written by Brittany Glenn. This post looks at how your chances of closing a sale are much higher if you have credibility with the customer which is really the flip side of the same coin I've been talking about when I explore the importance of credible marketing.  

The reality is that buyers are less loyal today and "buyers can fact-check everything you say and they can always find another choice" as Maslansky points out. So if your sales or marketing aren't credible or you overpromise and underdeliver then the buyer will find out and not only refuse to buy from you but also tell others using social media and other tools on the Internet.

In both sales and marketing, the power rests with the customers because it's so easy to weed out the companies that aren't being entirely true about their product or themselves. If the prospective customers senses anything with the company or people that represent it that is not credible, they will take their purchases elsewhere. It may sound old-fashioned but honesty really is the best policy.

Credibility in sales and marketing is not just about honesty and the truth, although both are a big part of it, you also need to do the little things. In the post, Jean Kelley, author of Get A Job Keep A Job Handbook, agrees with something I wrote about last week in that “It’s the small things, like not returning e-mails promptly, that tarnish a reputation more so than the bigger issues.”  

Kelley adds these other behaviors that you need to focus on to build credibility:

• Don’t overpromise. Do what you say you will do.
• Be open about your motives behind a directive or decision.
• Fess up to mistakes.
• Keep people’s confidences. Get permission before divulging sensitive information.
• Treat others consistently and fairly.
• Listen to others.

While Kelley was talking about sales people, these behaviors could, and should, just as easily apply to marketing and all the people in your company if you want to build a credible brand. I've seen and heard of too many start-ups that may not follow these behaviors and eventually pay the price.

If you want to build a company that has lifelong customers who want to do business with you, then you need to ensure both your sales AND marketing are credible by doing the little things well and being honest. This may sound like motherhood and apple pie but your customers will spread the word about your credibilty and how everyone should buy from you.

Perception is Reality

I know this may be obvious to some of you but I think we often forget how crucial it is to take the statement "perception is reality" into account when it comes to marketing and communications. I was reminded of that recently when I had a coffee with Todd Defren (@tdefren), blogger at PR-Squared, and we were discussing how consumers and the media may brand a company a certain way despite the companies best efforts to change that. We looked at each other and said "perception is reality" at exactly the same time.

This is so true and we need to realize that what our customers think of us is always their reality even if it's 100% false. And changing that can be extremely difficult if not impossible. This is why it's so critical to get your message simple and consistent and ensure that your marketing is credible. If you don't start in the right place with your audience in terms of your brand then it may never change.

In the early days of many start-ups, they think they can control the messages their audience associates with their company. This may be the furthest from the truth when you think about how easily information spreads in our online, social media driven world. You need to realize that things have changed and that people can talk about your company 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and it's this perception that becomes the reality for your company.

Even if the media is not talking about you, then it's important to understand that your own employees or product could be doing or saying something that creates the wrong perception. For example, what if your brand was all about simplicity but getting an order placed is extremely difficult. Then the reality for your brand would not be simplicity. For many start-ups the perception created by your employees and product is the bigger contributor to a different reality than what is communicated online by the media and others.

I've also seen quite a few companies that have the issue where everyone does not communicate the same message consistently. Different members of the team answer the question about what you company does and why it's better in multiple ways which confuses that potential customer but also contributes immensely to creating a different perception of the company.

For example, and this is a bit abstract, what if some of your employees referred to your product as an apple, while others called it an orange and one person insisted on calling it a banana. Now in this scenario, the right answer is apple by the way, what would your customers call your product or would they use a different word? I think you can see where this could go, especially depending on the last person they spoke to.

In the end, to help create the right "reality" for your company, start within to ensure everyone is using the same messages when they talk about your brand and make your brand attributes a key ingredient in everything you do from product to company culture. While you can't control others perceptions of your company, control what you can to help create the reality you strive for with your brand.

Nobody Cares About Apple Products Either

Last week, David Meerman Scott (@dmscott), author of Real-time Marketing & PR (on my to read list) and blogger at Web Ink Now, wrote a post Apple is Not Different as a follow up to his Nobody Cares About Your Product post. Basically, he states that organizations should not talk incessantly about their products or services because buyers "care a great deal about solving their problems (and are always on the lookout for a company that can help them do so)". As a reader of his blog and hearing him speak, I know this is not a new perspective from David but people are not listening.

Quite often to refute this idea, people use Apple as an example. At first glance, you may think they have a valid point as Apple has produced a string of very successful products from the iPod to the iPhone and the revamped Mac lineup that is quickly taking market share from Windows PCs. However, David once again deconstructs this argument quickly by showing how it's not about each of these products but how they solve the user's problems.

I couldn't resist weighing in on this debate as I have writter about the importance of explaining how you solve the problems of your audience better than others and also how you need to look at how others solve similar problems when you define your competition.

What I think everyone is missing from David's point is that products are important but it's not the features and benefits that companies talk about which will convince people they need your product. Members of your company care about these things because you have invested a lot of time, money and effort into making your product the best.Your audience does not care about these things. 

They care about what they need to do that particular minute, hour or day. They want to make their life easier, better, reach some goal, etc. If your product can help them do that then you have a chance at making a sale. Nine times out of ten they will not buy your product because it's cool. In the other case, they are buying it to solve "the problem of dorkiness in people" as David points out when the coolness of Apple products is raised.

To be successful in your marketing and communications, you need to clearly and simply explain how your product solves the problem that user is facing and how you are better than others at solving it. The long list of features on some web sites just won't do it. And, it's not just a matter of translating these features to benefits although that's an improvement.

You need to talk to both your customers and your non-customers to find out what problems they are facing. Don't invent problems or just listen to your loudest customer. When you listen first, ideally before developing the product, and clearly understand the problem you are solving then marketing in this fashion is easy and will be very successful. It's all about solving problems not the product itself.

Creating the Message in Your Time of Crisis

For the last couple of weeks, I've been writing about the need for start-ups to develop a crisis communications plan and also the steps you should take to create your plan. While I'm on this topic, I wanted to dive into a bit more detail on what could be the most crucial past of your crisis communication plan: the message.

It's crucial that you should always communicate the right message, to the right people, at the right time. I've written about this before but this concept is even more critical, if that's possible, during a time of crisis. So what is different about creating the message in your time of crisis?

Basically, you need to build upon the messages you used before the crisis to specifically address the issue in a clear, credible and consistent way.  All great attributes of your message at any time. However, in your time of crisis you also need to add the appropriate context to your message and that's where things are different.

Depending on the crisis, your message needs to show concern for those that have been affected and assurance that you will address the issue in a timely and satisfactory manner. As you can see, this is very different than your marketing message which is all about creating awareness. 

As well, you need to ensure that the content is accurate during a time of crisis. Not that this isn't something you need to always do, but we all know the truth has been stretched from time-to-time in a marketing message. This cannot be the case during a time of crisis. You need to be accurate in what you communicate as further mistakes, which will be found out, can only make the crisis worse. In fact, using respected third parties to validate facts is very important.

Unlike your main marketing message which is about differentiation and value, your crisis message must be accurate, clear, credible, consistent and delivered within the appropriate context. This is not radically different than you message during normal times but the subtleties are important and you must be aware of them at all times.

Since you already have the groundwork in place for your main messages, you really have no excuse but to spend some time building your message for a potential crisis as we all know time is of the essence for you to respond when something bad happens. Are you prepared?

Creating your Crisis Communications Plan

Last week, I wrote about the need for a crisis communications plan and later that same day, Intuit suffered a crisis of their own as many of their key websites went down. Now, obviously I can't say that I predicted this crisis for Intuit but the coincidence just goes to show you that a crisis can happen at any point in time.

So if you are now convinced that you need a crisis communications plan, the timing of this blog post is perfect for you as I'll run through how you should build this plan. Now, I'm not going to say that this post covers everything you should do but as I mentioned in my last post, I want to give you some steps so you can develop a plan quickly which is significantly better than nothing at all.

Behind every good crisis communications plan are 3 underlying concepts:

• You need to be proactive. The more you can prepare and do in advance, the better off you will be in the time of crisis. The fact you are reading this post and starting to develop a plan is a huge step in the right direction.
• You need to be transparent. If you try to hide anything, chances are you will be found out so be as up-front as possible from the outset. And the worst thing to say is "No comment".
• You need to respond quickly. Speed is crucial as the longer you wait the more others will tell the story in terms that you cannot control and will not like.

Now while many crisis are unforeseen, you should try and identify potential crisis that could affect your company and then develop a plan to address these issues. By putting your plan in context, your efforts are more focused and you are in a much better position when and if that crisis happens.

In terms of the plan itself, you should first and foremost figure out who should be part of the crisis communications team so that you can pull this key group of people together at a moments notice. You should also figure out who the spokesperson will be, usually the CEO or a senior executive, and ensure they are trained to handle the tough questions that will come to them.

With the team in place, then you can work on the following areas of the plan:

• Define the various targets for your messages in the time of crisis. For example, it's important to identity the stakeholders in your company which may include employees, customers, prospects, suppliers, investors, partners, media, analysts, and other members of your community. And, if there is anything you can do to build a better relationship with your audiences and/or tell parts of the story in advance then you should do it. 
• Develop tools to reach these targets quickly. For example, draw up a list of your targets and how to reach them so you can get the word out quickly. More importantly, prepare an area on your web site which can be launched, at a moments notice, and be the base for communicating all your information in the time of crisis so everyone has one place to go to get your side of the story.
• Create messages that are pre-approved. While each situation will be different it's always a good idea to prepare several key messages in advance and then adapt them to the situation. If you don't do this then you won't be able to respond quickly which is crucial.
• Implement an early warning system to measure and monitor what is being said about your company. All of the planning above is for naught, if you don't know what is being said about you before, during and after the crisis. There are a number of tools that can be used to automate much of this process but the key is to keep you eyes and ears open at all time, especially online.

Obviously, this is a very high-level overview of the crisis communication plan. In the coming weeks, I'll try to look into each of these aspects in more detail. In the meantime, let me know what I've missed or better yet, let me know what you've done in your time of crisis.

Crisis Communications Plan: Necessary evil or waste of time?

For most of the past 2 months, BP has been bombarded by negative press regarding the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Imagine working in PR or communications at a company where everyone can see a live feed of oil gushing into the ocean and images of birds and other wildlife coated with oil.

You would assume that they had a crisis communications plan in place before this happened but I wouldn't blame you for thinking that this was not the case or question how much thought was put into it. I know much has been written about how BP has responded to this crisis and I'm certain it will become a case study for many PR, communications and crisis management courses in the future.

However, this blog post is not about BP or the disaster in the Gulf but it's about the question of whether a crisis communications plan for a start-up is a necessary evil or a waste of time. It's easy to dismiss the need for a crisis communications plan when you assume that your start-up will not face a disaster on the scale of BP but that would be missing the point.

A crisis does not need to be on such a large scale for it to affect your brand and your sales. For example, last week an iPad security breach that unveiled 100K+ email addresses was discovered and received a lot of publicity. This negative PR will affect AT&T, and maybe even Apple, not on a large scale but it will still have an impact and a plan needed to be implemented to respond to that crisis.

These are just 2 examples of crises that have happened recently that differ in scope but both required an immediate response. And that's the thing with a crisis, you don't have time to plan your response after the crisis happens. You need to respond immediately or the negative publicity could spiral out of control in this new age of social media.

If something bad happens to your company, you need to tell your side of the story before everyone else does it for you. That's why it's best to think through your response, or if you won't respond, in advance of the crisis and also to lay the groundwork needed to communication this response to your different stakeholders.

So while, your start-up has a thousand things to do on any given day, unfortunately, you need to add the development of a crisis communications plan to the list. Now this may not be at the top of your list but it has to be there. In some cases, it may even need to be at the top if you're making a controversial announcement for example. I'll talk more about how you can develop this crisis communications plan quickly in an upcoming blog post.

The plan doesn't need to be long and detailed but you do need to think about what negative things could happen to or be said about your brand and have a way to respond quickly so that all your audiences hear your side of the story.

Is there a crisis communications plan in place for your company?

Book Review - The Language of Trust (by @m_mas) is Crucial to Your Business

For anyone who follows this blog, you know that I'm passionate about making marketing more credible. It's no surprise that language and words play a key role in making your message credible and engaging to your audience. Michael Maslansky, who I've worked with, and his co-authors, Scott West, Gary DeMoss, and David Saylor, do a great job explaining just how important language is to selling your product or service in their new book, The Language of Trust: Selling Ideas in a World of Skeptics.

It's always been surprising to me that so few companies spend much time and money on crafting the messages and communications they use for their business. I've written about the need for simple and consistent messages that differentiate your produce or service. However, Michael presents a compelling case for why this is absolutely crucial to your business in an era where "trust is dead".

But more important than an analysis of the post-trust era in America, Michael talks about the Four Principles of Credible Communications (Be Personal, Be Plainspoken, Be Positive, Be Plausible) and the New Word Order (Engagement, Theirs Before Yours, Context). It is these two sections that are an absolute goldmine for anyone looking to create new messages or improve the communications of their organization.

Michael explains how changing the language you use is hard and that these principles may run counter to what you've done before, and believe still works, but there is little doubt after you read the book that you do need to change your language in a world of skeptics. You can no longer rely on the facts and hope to change the view held by your audience as the facts can mean different things to different people.  You need to approach the language you use from your audience's perspective and use the Four Principles.

In addition to helping you choose the right words, Michael uses the New Word Order program to explain how to communicate the right message at the right time to your audience. The idea behind the program is that the process is equally important to getting the message right and that you need to follow the steps to be successful. The fact that Michael outlines a process here is extremely valuable, since many believe communications is more art than science, because it allows you to apply the program to your business and goals.

In the end, the list of lessons you can take from this book and apply to your communications is where the real value exists in The Language of Trust. I'm quite certain I'll reference this book numerous times in my work and also in the context of this blog. The book is especially relevant to the series of blog posts I've written on credible marketing.

In fact, I plan to explore in more detail how words and language are absolutely crucial to make your marketing more credible in subsequent blog posts. This book reinforced for me just how important the words you choose are to your message and marketing overall. It definitely got me thinking again about how to improve the language I use everyday and I'm certain it will get you thinking too.

Without a doubt, The Language of Trust, is a must read for all marketing and PR professionals as well as anyone involved in  the communications for their company. In this book, you will discover What to Say, How to Say It and Why It Matters. Now isn't that crucial to your business?

[Image courtesy of Michael Maslansky's The Language of Trust website]