CONSIDER ELEVATING YOUR BENEFIT…IF YOU HAVE ONE

Elevating your benefit is a marketing move that should be under constant consideration. I am referring to the benefit that you may or may not have included in your critical sales message. In the branding world, that message is referred to as your selling proposition. In almost every product or service I have positioned, the benefit, if properly supported, has turned out to be the strongest trigger to cause consumers to purchase. However, as I plough through the world of consumer goods and services marketing, I rarely ever see benefits used in the selling propositions I encounter. I think it’s because business owners are so focused on their businesses they forget what’s in it for the purchaser…the benefit.

This shortage of benefits is good news for you. Even though you too are not likely using one in your current selling proposition, your competition is unlikely either. Let’s assume for the moment that one of you, either you or your competition, is using a benefit effectively. If it’s your competition, you are likely suffering at the effect of them having done so. If it’s you that is using a benefit…congratulations. In either case, now is the time to elevate.

A number of years ago, the children’s educational software category was dominated by a brand that used a benefit to drive its selling proposition, and in turn, its sales. The brand is Reader Rabbit and the selling proposition is based on the benefit its brand name infers. The benefit is essentially that your child will be more likely to engage in the process of learning if it is also being entertained by a rabbit. That selling proposition was very effective, and for a long time allowed the Reader Rabbit brand to dominate the category until a new brand was introduced that used a higher order of benefit. Let me demonstrate what I mean by a higher order.

Years ago I discovered that if you asked business owners or their consumers to tell you what the benefit is for any product or service, they will generally give you a performance attribute or a very low form of a benefit. If you then tell them to consider that they have that benefit in their lives, and again ask what the benefit of having that is, they will begin going up what I call a benefit ladder. At the top of all benefit ladders, no matter what the product or service is I’m happy.

That makes sense if you think about it. Here are two different ladders, one for cat litter, the other for allergy medicine. Start at the bottom of each, work up the ladder and you will get the point.

Here is what happened to the rabbit. I am going to say that the benefit for Reader Rabbit is SMART KID. At about that time a second marketing team, one I happened to be a part of, identified a new selling proposition that was based on the perceived mindset of parents. We launched a brand called Jump Start. The Jump Start positioning was based on the perceived benefit of a parent’s desire to give their child an advantage over other kids. I am going to say the benefit for Jump Start is PROUD PARENT. If we had the advantage of showing you a benefit ladder for the children’s educational software category, the Jump Start benefit is clearly elevated and above that of Reader Rabbit.

Sales for Jump Start Kindergarten, the initial product offered by this new brand, were extraordinarily strong. In short time, The Jump Start brand took over the category, and the Reader Rabbit brand became a shadow of its former self. This is an event that happened well over ten years ago. There is a double learning here.

The first is that of continually perusing the next elevated benefit. You should not only be looking for the benefit that will drive your product or service forward, you should be looking for the elevated benefit that will drive it beyond that. If you can get into this mind set, you will alter the success pattern of your business forever. If you are a small business thinking I have just disclosed a secret marketing tool commonly used by the big boys, I have a news flash for you. The big boys are too busy being tangled up in their every day marketing issues to stay present to this critical marketing distinction just like the smaller entrepreneurs. No one is minding the store where this marketing distinction is concerned.

The second learning illustrates this point very well. In the ensuing years, after the introduction, neither of these brands has attempted to elevate beyond the status quo. I cannot say why because I am not in contact with either brand. Perhaps neither brand has figured out what took place. Stay vigilant.

Cheers, 

Keith Chambers

Keynote Marketing Speaker
Creative Marketing Consultant
(310) 473-0010
www.chambersgroup.com

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visit my site, www.pullbizbook.com

LOOKING FOR AN ENDORSER

I’ve written about endorsements before but never experienced their power until last weekend. I’m normally an avid moviegoer but have been involved in so many other activities lately that I’ve not seen a movie for several months.

Friday afternoon a friend sent a text message asking if I wanted to join her to go see Knight and Day, the new Tom Cruise movie. Having been a victim of Mission Impossible where anything, no matter how ridiculous, was possible, I cringed at the thought of another Tom Cruise action film. When I asked for another suggestion, my friend explained that she was out running errands and the task of finding a great film was in my hands.

I quickly sent messages to my two sons who are usually great sources. No response. They were not wired up at the moment. I tried two additional friends, also to no avail. In the dead time that followed, I became aware that I was literally looking for a third party endorsement. It was only a few blogs back that I wrote about the potential power of incorporating endorsements into your selling proposition. That blog was with the idea of imposing an endorsement on your consumer, never thinking that they might already be looking for one much like I was at the moment.

The experience I was having was strictly two parties, the product (the movie) and me. I needed a third party to recommend a good movie and there were none around. My next move was to pick the local Landmark Theater. At least I knew the experience of the theatre would be great. I can reserve a seat, they have great snacks and there are no aggravating commercials.

Their site on the internet provided a listing of twelve movies. I started at the top and one by one clicked on the titles and began reading the write-ups on each. As I quickly realized I didn’t fully trust what I was reading knowing the natural tendency toward hype. I still needed that third party endorsement.

After working my way through the first eleven, I got relief on number twelve. I felt like I had found a friend. In fact I had. The film was titled Winter’s Bone, which told me nothing. The same was true of the write-up except for one thing. This film had won the 2010 Sundance Film Festival's Grand Jury Prize and the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award. I confess, I am not familiar with either of those awards, but that was all I needed to make the choice. I booked it and guess what? It was great.

The learning here is that I have under estimated the power of the endorsement as a marketing trigger. The issue is finding the one that works for your product or service. You may be surprised how easy that may be given that consumers are so open to them. What you are looking for is one that has a certain, but not too much, familiarity.

I frequently include the Good Housekeeping seal in the work I do when I expose new selling propositions to consumers, but it seems to have lost its charm. I think it is so widely used it has lost its appeal. On the other hand I have created fake endorsements with what I thought were compelling names and they too have failed. What I know for sure is that endorsements are worth pursuing. What I have just learned is that in the corner of the minds of consumers, they are likely looking for them. If you have had any interesting experiences with endorsements that you can share, I would love to hear them.

              
Cheers, 

Keith Chambers

Keynote Marketing Speaker
Creative Marketing Consultant
(310) 473-0010
www.chambersgroup.com

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visit my site, www.pullbizbook.com

SELLING IS MUCH MORE PERSONAL THAN EVEN I THOUGHT

Last week I did a guest spot on The Big Biz Show, a national and international radio and TV simulcast. CBS is the primary carrier. I had been asked to share topics I think will work for both big and small businesses. That has turned out to be very easy to do as I’ve discovered that literally all of the marketing distinctions I have created while working on the big brands, are just as applicable to small businesses.

This was my eighth appearance, and as a result of a positive reaction from their audience, I am now considered a regular. This is all very new to me and while I was very intimidated at first, I now find it exciting, a lot of fun and I truly look forward to the next broadcast. I confess, I have been very surprised to discover that I am well suited to it. Given my limited experience, I can only conclude that training for such a thing must be secondary to simply having some degree of innate ability to just do it. I feel very lucky.

At this point, the hosts introduce me and I am allowed to take the show in whatever direction I choose. They jump in and it seems to go in a direction of its own. My first appearance was characterized to me as one segment in length, about ten minutes. That appearance went so well they held me through two. Last week they found the subject so interesting it went for three segments. I was blown away. After the session, while on the way home, I realized that I had learned something very valuable for myself during that appearance. While my intention was to share that “selling propositions have a gender,” I discovered much more for myself. I will share it here with you.

I began the first segment by suggesting that it is useful to look at your product or service as if it were alive and had a personality. I did so because consumers literally encounter hundreds of them on a daily basis. These selling propositions are quickly evaluated and either cast aside or acted upon. That’s very personal and I am clear that when a stranger encounters your selling proposition, it is a personal experience on many levels.

To begin with, I recommend you consider that your selling proposition is a one-way conversation with your target consumer. Right off, you better say something about them or they will think all you care about is yourself. The best thing you can possibly say about them is how they will benefit by using your product or service. Men’s Warehouse, “You’re going to like the way you look, I guarantee it. " Enough said there.

Our lives are very gender-centric and so are our products and services. Women respond to our selling propositions differently than men. Women are very comfortable with their sexuality while we men are less so. Given that, I recommend you make sure your selling proposition is somewhat more masculine than feminine if you want to be safe. Notice the Trojan package and how masculine it is. It is a fact that approximately 35% of all condoms are purchased by females…apparently comfortable with its gender.

I find it fitting that years ago I chose the word character to define what I say you should add to appropriate elements of your selling proposition, to make them appear remarkable to your target consumers. My definition of character is anything structural, graphic or words that cause the target consumer to develop relatedness to your product or service. Check out the abundance of character in the Go-Gurt package and imagine how remarkable it was when introduced years ago.

All marketers want their target consumers to be loyal and continue to purchase on a regular basis. Loyalty is of course a very human trait as is character. What I can share with you here is that there is a very direct relationship between character and loyalty. You show me a selling proposition with lots of character and I will bet that product will have lots of consumer loyalty.

I could continue talking about many more human characteristics but I am committed to a short blogging. The learning here is to remember to stay present to the idea that your selling proposition is human and in a one-way conversation with your target consumer. I promise, that mindset will be more a part of my own marketing context as I move forward. I’d love to know if it is part of yours.

Cheers, 

Keith Chambers

Keynote Marketing Speaker
Creative Marketing Consultant
(310) 473-0010
www.chambersgroup.com

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visit my site, www.pullbizbook.com

HOW IS YOUR SELLING PROPOSITION TRACKING?

My son Eric likes to refer to me as a “clicker.” He has frequently observed me clicking away on my computer as I have become impatient to the point of not wanting to wait more than a split second for it to respond. He is right by the way. I think I’m simply a product of the times where we are all very impatient. This phenomenon is pervasive among humans in general and if you are not careful, it can affect how well your selling proposition is perceived.

When working on a positioning assignment, we break the total message down into its communication elements. We then dedicate ourselves to creating the most powerful means of communicating each. element We do so knowing that it is essential to developing a powerful selling proposition. This is true irrespective of whether it is a product or a service. It is just as correct to assume that you must make your selling proposition both fast and easy for your target consumer to encounter and comprehend, or you will lose them.

Assuming you do not have money for sophisticated eye tracking research, I offer the following. I will discuss the critical elements that will be initially exposed to your target consumer. You will want to consider all elements you feel are necessary to complete your selling proposition. Your selling proposition may be communicated at any one of many impact points. You could be working with a billboard ad, a yellow pages ad, a bus bench, a package, a radio or TV commercial, a billboard, the cover or first two pages of a brochure or whatever your impact point is. The process is exactly the same.

The most important element is almost always your benefit or a bold statement. Your benefit is a two or three word statement of what your target consumer gets out of using your product or service. An example is “Less Work” on the 3M Sandblaster sandpaper package seen below. A bold statement is a significant claim about the performance of your product or service. An example is “The Most Interesting Man In the World” on the Dos Equis billboard ad below.

Your brand or your generic descriptor can be the initial elements that target consumers are exposed to because target consumers encounter them without judgment. They are perfect to function as an attention getting element. Target consumers encounter them then move on quickly to the next most prominent element. The next element should be your benefit/bold statement. Beyond the benefit or bold statement, you will add supporting attribute drivers. They should be located in close proximity. Close enough that they function as one design element as in the 3M sandpaper package. Notice the statements directly adjacent to “Less Work."

This methodology sets up one of the strongest communication scenarios I know of. Your brand/generic descriptor works as your attention getting first element. Your benefit/attribute drivers work together as your second element. Assuming you have developed strong communication elements, you will have a powerful selling proposition and your target consumer has only had to encounter two elements. Additional subordinate elements should be added carefully.

The learning here is that you and I are responsible for how target consumers encounter selling propositions. Simply having all of the elements present is not enough. We must manage the order in which the elements are exposed. If we force them to sort it out they will tune out.

Cheers, 

Keith Chambers

Keynote Marketing Speaker
Creative Marketing Consultant
(310) 473-0010
www.chambersgroup.com

follow my blog by clicking one of the links below







visit my site, www.pullbizbook.com

DO YOU HAVE ENOUGH CHARACTER?

The answer is, not likely. Character is the secret ingredient used in creating a remarkable selling proposition. A remarkable selling proposition, as defined by me is one that is perceived as a breakthrough by your target consumer. It can manifest itself in one of four ways when conveying your selling proposition. It can be in the form of words, graphics, sound or structural. The procedure for adding "remarkability" to your selling proposition is simple. You try adding character to the different elements of your selling proposition until one or more work. By elements I am referring to a sub-brand, a generic descriptor, a key graphic, an endorsement, a benefit, an attribute and so on.

Some categories are all but void of character. Gas stations, plumbers, dry cleaners, drug stores, hardware stores, and shoe repair shops are among many others. Have you ever noticed when you drive down the street, how generic the information is that you are exposed to? Retail stores are the worst offenders but there are those few who pull it off.

There is a shoe repair shop about ten blocks from my office. The owner turned his car into a giant boot that he parks in-front of the store daily. He added character.

 There is a plumber in Los Angeles  CA who created a tag line that adds character. He says, “I guarantee my plumbers will show up on time and smell good.” He added character. There is a national men’s clothing retailer who added an advertising tag line to his selling proposition. He says, “You’re going to like the way you look. I guarantee it.” He added character. When the Yoplait marketers wanted to sell yogurt to kids, they added character to the delivery system, the sub-brand, the generic descriptor and the key graphic, they too added character.

There is a significant residual benefit to adding character that is very important. There is a direct relationship between the presence of character and that of loyalty. You show me a selling proposition with little character and I will show you a group of consumers with low loyalty. These consumers will likely bail out in favor of a competitive product or service that has more character appeal. If you stop and review the brands and products that you are currently loyal to, chances are they have character that you relate to. Brands with little character are frankly boring. You and I don’t collect boring friends nor do we warm up to boring brands and products. If you look even closer you will notice that the products and services you patronize, those that have little character, are most likely very convenient or very cheap.

The learning here is that you can add power to your selling proposition simply by adding character. You don’t have to increase advertising or sale promotion or change your product or service in any way. Simply take exactly what you are currently selling and look for positioning elements that you can alter to add character.

Cheers, 

Keith Chambers

Keynote Marketing Speaker
Creative Marketing Consultant
(310) 473-0010
www.chambersgroup.com

follow my blog by clicking one of the links below







visit my site, www.pullbizbook.com

NEVER UNDER ESTIMATE THE POWER OF A 3RD PARTY

Over time I have developed a protocol for creating a selling proposition for new products and I am very loyal to the process. It’s simple in that it begins with a thorough review of all the 16 positioning elements that make up a selling proposition to determine which are appropriate for exploration. 

Lately I have noticed that the “product endorsement” element has been very effective in stimulating sales. You are probably thinking of the Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant type of endorsement and that is a great place to start. I snapped a picture of the following billboard of Dwight Howard in an Ed Hardy T shirt to demonstrate its prevalence. 

For the most part, it is assumed that endorsements are costly and reserved for the big and well-financed brands, but nothing is further from the truth. An endorsement is essentially a referral by a third party. The third being after the first two, your product or service and your target consumer. These third parties come in two forms, human and institutional. If it is human then you are going to have to pay according to the popularity of the personality you are hiring. Recently, one beer company found a way to cut the celebrity fee. They needed “The most interesting man in the world” to sell their beer so they created him. Compare that to paying Dwight Howard.

So, if you are a small business what do you do? If you are already in business then you have the answer at hand. Take a look at your current consumer base and evaluate it with the idea of soliciting some of these people and use them creatively. In small and medium sized businesses this is routinely overlooked.

I have a friend who owns a dry cleaning business that is located approximately two miles from a major university. After getting to know his customers and providing great service over time, he asked two of them if they would consider endorsing his business. What a pleasant surprise when Ben Howland and Rick Neuheisel, head basketball and football coaches at UCLA, both said yes.

Hear is another example very close to me. I recently wrote a book. I asked twelve of my clients if they would like to read its final draft and provide me a quote for my use in promoting the book. All twelve are now found on the front and back covers and the inside 1^st page. "PULL" is now in full distribution in all bookstores and my publisher gives significant credit to the endorsements. Beyond that, one of the first reactions my publisher received was a very complementary email from the Chairman, President and CEO of HBO. Our first reaction was to thank him and ask if we could use it…it will be included in the next printing. You can see why I have more than the normal level of attention to the endorsement positioning element these days.

The learning here, is for you to look closely at your consumer base. It does not matter at all what your business is, you will find interesting people who are not celebrities but who have credible careers. If you are selling jewelry and one of your customers sells dresses, you are good to go with that. If you are a plumber and one of your clients owns an apartment building, you are good to go with that. Who wouldn’t use the plumber who takes care of the apartment building on the corner? These are people who are willing to help you and I out without compensation. So ask and let me know how it goes.

Cheers, 

Keith Chambers

Keynote Marketing Speaker
Creative Marketing Consultant
(310) 473-0010
www.chambersgroup.com

follow my blog by clicking one of the links below








visit my site, www.pullbizbook.com

BEWARE OF THE "OPERATING STATE" OF YOUR TARGET CONSUMER

I know this sounds ominous and it can be if you are not careful. Being aware of the “operating state” is the secret to dealing with it. I discovered a long time ago that all humans have the same operating state and as a result, I have adjusted the way I interface with others. You may have noticed there are a lot of humans around these days, that includes you and me of course and the operating state I am referring to is “What’s Wrong Here?”

If you are at all human, and you are, you just thought to yourself that this may be true for Keith and most other humans but it certainly does not apply to you. Trust me, it is a defense mechanism left over from the caveman days when there were significant reasons to think this way. Thinking this way was key to survival itself. I share this with apologies to the Geico cavemen who have apparently evolved mentally if not physically.

Another way to look at this phenomenon is that consumers are looking for a reason not to purchase your product or service. The answer is simple. Don’t give them a reason, and here are three traps to watch out for.

The first is to not use words that your target consumer will not fully understand or words that need interpretation. There is something about the human mind that begins to turn off the instant we read past words we don’t fully understand. One word is enough to have consumers move on to the next issue in their lives.

Secondly, your selling proposition should be written and communicated on an 8th grade level. It is not only possible, it is essential when communicating complicated selling messages. Oddly, most newsprint is written that way and we don’t notice. We are engaged in the material and simply don’t think of it.

Lastly, if you make a bold claim, which I recommend you do if at all possible, be sure to validate your claim immediately adjacent to your claim. In this circumstance, they will tune your selling proposition out because your claim isn’t credible. If you immediately support your claim, you are on firm ground.

I observe the “What’s Wrong Here” operating state daily, and it has me working to be more effective in dealing with people. It will for you as well. You just have to get over the idea that you are not an exception to this fundamental way of being.

Cheers, 

Keith Chambers

Keynote Marketing Speaker
Creative Marketing Consultant
(310) 473-0010
www.chambersgroup.com

follow my blog by clicking one of the links below





visit my site, www.pullbizbook.com