A Clear Marketing Strategy
During my recent trip to Prague I observed a few things related to marketing. I like to analyze everything – it’s just the way I am.
So this story made me smile, but it reveals a particular formula and that is..
Opportunity + Foresight = Profit
I was introduced to a young man from London. He was one of the friends my son made during the competition they were both involved in. As seems to be the case with young people these days, they knew everything about each other within a short time of meeting.
They both knew about the rules and regulations of this contest. There is a long list of them, but one in particular was going to affect most entrants. For security reasons they were not allowed to take in backpacks to the venue.
However, they were allowed to take in clear backpacks that allowed the contents of the pack to be examined easily and quickly.
Here’s the opportunity
Somebody has to provide those clear backpacks. You would think that the entrants would prepare ahead of time and buy one that is suitable.
Here’s the foresight
Maurice took a poll of his friends (click here to take my poll!). He quickly discovered that most of them were intending to get a suitable bag when they arrived in Prague. That’s called market research.
When he landed in Prague, he found the main shop that sells these bags. He negotiated a price for 30 of them and negotiated to be able to get a refund if he brought any back.
That’s called working smarter, not harder.
The sales
Maurice then sold all his bags to the entrants who didn’t have one. He charged 400% of his purchase price. That means he made a 300% uplift on his outlay. He could have sold more, but he was limited to how many he could afford to buy.
Exploitation?
Having taken more money (400% remember) than actual cost, was he exploiting his fellow entrants?
You might argue that, but in fact they were delighted. He had solved two problems for them. The first was finding where to source the product. It would have taken them effort.
The second was saving them time – that’s huge. They didn’t have to take a trip into the center of town and back. They could buy what they needed without moving an inch. He sold them where people already were. He took the product to them.
Customer benefits
What Maurice really did, if you boil it down, is solve two problems for people. The benefits (remember the distinction between features and benefits) were less effort expended and more time saved.
It’s amazing what people will pay to save time and energy. If you can offer something that does that for them, you have a customer.
So here’s a question for you. And please join the discussion in the comments section. What benefits does your product (or anticipated product) offer your customers? Not features – benefits.
What does it benefit them to buy your product? If you can’t answer that clearly then you may not know your own product well enough to be able to sell it properly.
Join the discussion.
Please let me know your own experiences and if you have a story to share, that would be great.
About the Author
Benefits: My product helps people save money on their holidays – guaranteed –
and also offers them the opportunity to build a lucrative business, worldwide, from home sharing the business with others…
After the Budget yesterday and the longer school days al a Osborne, I’m guessing even more teachers today will be desperate to leave the profession.
He obviously has no idea how hard teachers work…
As soon as I have checked mail, No2 on my list is KC search – benefits content for my new website 🙂 (which should be up and running after the weekend!)
Hi Liz,
Clear benefits. I’m not sure that they are congruent though. Saving money on your holidays doesn’t – to my mind – lead naturally to making money online from home. The connection seems a bit vague.
But you’re thinking about benefits, which is great!
That’s what people want, benefits. It’s often said that most people don’t really want money. They want the THINGS they can buy with the money. Things like a nice house to live, a reliable car, a trip when they want it, good food, presents for loved ones and so on. The benefit of money is what you can turn it into. I can turn money into a trip that I’m taking end of April and into a very comfortable hotel suite – I’m never going into a hotel like the one my son chose in Prague again! The money in itself isn’t that useful. You can’t eat it, you can’t live in it, you can’t cure illnesses directly with it.
But you can trade it for all those things.
That’s why you see the “internet lifestyle” promoted so much. Making money on its own is just making money. You can do that in a job you hate. But making enough money to live life how YOU want to? Now that’s a benefit that everyone understands!
I have been thinking about this since you mentioned the 10 year old salesman. I need to use KC3 to search for BENEFIT related keywords!
Meg, yes! You got it. Benefits are what we all crave. It’s easy to overlook – I overlook it all the time since I’m a bit techie, therefore I focus on features. But to your customer, it’s the benefit that really counts.
This is so true. I have been pondering on this ever since your last blog post about the 10 year old sales genius. I am going to ask a question on this on the open webinar but I have realised that I am searching Keyword Canine for FEATURE related search terms. People don’t search for features, they search for BENEFITS, so that will be my next set of searches on KC – benefits that I can use as keywords in my articles on my site.
Meg,
That’s a great aha moment you’ve had and I love the fact you will use benefits in your articles. I’ve been reading some of the great salescopy books recently and they make the point that benefits are what sell.
One example is about a course for piano playing. It’s hard to learn to play piano, so if you talk about the hours and hours of practice well…that’s not enticing.
But talk about how *this* particular course can save you months of practice with special technology – that’s a benefit. Or in the original ad the benefit was how impressive you’d be when friends come round. The need for approval from others – the benefit – was what sold that course.
I’ve just had a long conversation with a very successful marketer about one of my products, which he’s going to use himself. When I told him the features I could hear that he was bored. The very second I started telling him the benefits – “…so that means that you can make more money by…..” his ears pricked up and he paid attention. Even his voice changed 🙂 He wanted to know more about the benefits to him.
As I focused on those benefits he became more and more excited at what it meant for him.
I happen to think that many people do search for feature keywords, but they are looking for benefits content. So still target feature keywords, but in your article do what you’ve said. Hit the benefits and list them front and center.