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Use Benefits to Communicate Value in Sales and Marketing Collateral

© Dianna Huff

My friend, Jane, in Manhattan, IM'd me one day to tell me how happy she was with her new stove.

"Oh, it has a timer and an oven light and a special meat thermometer," she chatted enthusiastically. "I used the oven last night," she went on, "and I didn't have to turn the brownies to keep them from burning on one end!"

I looked up her stove brand on the Internet, thinking that I would find only features listed for it. To my surprise, I learned why she is so happy with oven. It comes with a CleanBake™ element which "provides more evenly balanced heat distribution by warming both the bottom and the sides of the oven cavity. This means better baking performance. And, because the element is 'hidden' from view by the porcelain oven cavity, cleanup is easy."

Better baking performance. Easy cleanup. I'm sold.

We all have heard, "list benefits, not features." Or, "tell your reader 'What's in it for them.'" Both statements are excellent things to keep in mind while writing sales and marketing collateral.

But Jessica Albon publisher of "Newsletters in Focus," brought up a good point when she advised her e-newsletter readers to "sell experiences." Experiences communicate the real value of using your product or service. That is, they help your customers understand why they need your product and how it will make their lives better.

That's why my friend Jane loves her stove. The benefit is she gets even baking and easy clean-up. The value is she now enjoys cooking again. (I doubt she even cares about the CleanBake element.)

When beginning a project for a client, I usually get product information that includes features and benefits statements. "Our widget is 10x faster." Or, "Our software is easy to use."

These are good, but they don't communicate the real value customers will get when they use the product. To find out what that value is, you have ask questions. Some of my favorites are:

• Why do you make this product?
• What need or problem does it solve?
• Who will be using it and how is it used?
• Where does it fit into the manufacturing environment?
• What makes it unique or different from other products like it?
• How is it manufactured?

By digging a little deeper, you can learn the real story behind the product -- which then allows you to craft original sounding messages that are on target with your audience.

My client, Alase Technologies, Inc., has been developing a series of new laser markers, including the VersaScribe VL Laser Marker, which is being marketed to the medical and food industries.

(Laser marking is where a name, number, or other piece of identification is lasered onto anything from cellphone components to dog tags.)

The VL has higher throughput, but it was the sentence, "capable of marking sensitive metal components," which led me to ask, "Why is this important?"

The VL allows a manufacturer to provide a permanent mark that doesn't penetrate the surface of the metal. Traditional engraving -- where the engraver cuts into the metal -- can cause rust or allow food particles to reside in the metal. This compromises the component and its environment.

The value, then, of the VL is that manufacturers don't have to worry about their components becoming contaminated -- which means happier customers and more business.

To communicate real value, dig a little deeper for the nuggets of information that go beyond buzzwords. The resulting copy will address your customers' real needs . . . and in the process, will help you increase sales.