What’s so special about you?
very day,
you’re bombarded with more than 1,500 advertising
messages. And, like most people, you expend a lot of energy
just trying to block out those messages.
On the other hand, as a business person,
how do you go about getting your message across when people are
working so hard to avoid it? How do you develop a technique for
communicating in an already
overcrowded marketplace? The answer is in
your “special benefit.”
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To develop your special benefit you should:
• Include it in all customer
advertising.
• The benefit must truly be special;
something competitors don’t offer or, at least, that you
can legitimately claim to do better.
• The benefit must be so compelling
that it motivates customers to act, like a money-back guarantee
or being the only suede and leather cleaner in your area.
Anchoring
This can be the foundation of successfully
marketing your services. Special benefits work because of a
simple way in which people think. One of the ways people handle
the barrage of advertising they receive is to pick something to
believe, then hold onto that idea until they are forced to
change.
Snap judgments (first impressions) become
permanent beliefs, since it’s uncomfortable and difficult
to change convictions once they are formed.
The mind tends to filter out new
information that doesn’t support an already held belief.
This attribute of the mind, called “anchoring,”
explains why special benefit marketing is so effective. (It
also explains why it is so difficult to buy an existing store
that was not properly managed and convince customers to come
back for a second try.)
The easiest way into a person’s
memory is to be first. To the human mind, second is not special
— it’s merely a part of “the rest of the
pack.” People can remember some levels beyond first and
other, but these can quickly fade into the rest of the pack.
Because of the anchoring factor, being
first is best, even though being first is not logically
important. Consider Kleenex, Xerox or even Coke. Because they
were first to win a position in consumers’ minds, people
consider all other similar products to be copycats.
Developing your special benefit is merely
a matter of choosing and communicating an aspect of your
business about which you can make a compelling claim to be
first and thus, in your audience’s mind, best.
How to find your special benefit
To find your special benefit, answer these
three questions:
1. What
benefit is unique to your business, and what is the basis of
your claim?
2. What is
the target market to whom this benefit would appeal the most?
3. What
special benefits are already being claimed by major
competitors, in the same target market?
Consider these components when developing
the position you want to hold in the minds of people in the
target market. This is what will differentiate your business
from your competitors.
Here’s the process:
Your special benefit. Before customers will feel compelled to do
business with you, a transformation has to take place.
Features must be turned into benefits. A
feature is anything you have added to your basic service. A
benefit is what the customer gets out of it. A feature may be
useful, but it is not compelling enough by itself.
A benefit is the reason for the feature
— a solution to a problem. Even if you can’t find a
really special feature to promote, search for one that your
competitors have overlooked. Then adopt it as your own.
The target market. To understand what will be compelling to your
target market, you have to know what these customers value.
Find out why they do business with the people they currently
trade with. Consider your potential customers in terms of their
demographics, life-styles and purchase characteristics. The
Golomb Group can do this for you.
Your goal is to match the benefits you
promote to the things these customers care about.
Competitors. Since
it’s often better to be first than best, it’s
important to know what beliefs your target market holds about
you and about your competitors.
Because of the anchoring phenomenon, it is
difficult and expensive to challenge a competitor for a
position he already occupies. When you know your
competitors’ positions, you can choose to avoid direct
challenges and, instead, carve out your own niche.
Finding your “first.” If I walked up to you and asked you to
name three local bookstores, the one you mentioned first would
likely be your favorite. (Try asking a stranger to name three
local drycleaners in your area.) If I asked you why you named
it first, you could probably give a good reason.
What you’re doing is communicating
that bookstore’s special benefit. In all probability,
their advertising is what put their name and special benefit
into your mind.
If your services have obvious and
desirable points of difference from your competitors’,
your special benefit only needs to emphasize that key
difference.
“But we’re all pretty much the
same,” you say?
Consider your strengths and your
competitors’ weaknesses. Where is there an opening that
you can claim? Some good attributes around which a special
benefit can be created are quality, variety of services, fast
service, location and price.
By now you should be getting a clear idea
of what to promote as your special benefit. If you’re
still not sure, make a list of your services’ features.
Then rank them in order of importance, as you think your best
customers would rank them. Look for the benefits of these
top-ranked features. Maybe you’ve heard customers comment
on this feature. What got them excited about it?
How to use it
Once you’ve determined your special
benefit, incorporate it into every advertising message and
every marketing move you make. Use this special benefit
strategically, and watch your sales grow!
Dennis McCrory is president of The Golomb
Group Inc., a firm that designs marketing programs for
drycleaners. Contact him at The Golomb Group Inc., 7664 Plaza
Ct., Willowbrook, IL 60527 Tele: (800) 679-5856
E-mail: dennismccrory@golombgroup.com
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