Think Features and Benefits  Feature - What are the various features of your product or services?  Benefit - What are the benefits the customer will receive from each feature? 1 Marketing 101

Three Laws of Marketing 2 Marketing 101 Overt Benefit – what’s in it for the customer? Reason to Believe – persuasive credibility that you will do as promised Dramatic Difference - uniqueness 1 2 3

Benefits vs. Overt Benefits 3 Marketing 101 Whole Shoe Care All Shoes Shined Protect Your Shoes Durable Shoeshine Fast Shoeshine Special Anti-Slip Sole Treatment Gentle Shoeshine For Delicate Women’s Shoes Salt Guard Protects From Winter Damage Armor Shoeshine Lasts 7 Days 2 Minute Shoeshine BenefitsOvert Benefits

Self Audit  Gather materials communicating your core business or product offering.  Read the best of them out loud.  Now write “what’s in it for the customer.” 4 Marketing 101

Self Audit (continued)  Answer these questions as if you were the customer:  Is the benefit clear and obvious?  Is the message specific about what’s in it for me?  Does the idea excite my interest?  Is the concept clearly unique vs. the competition? 5 Marketing 101

Reason to Believe  Lack of belief by the targeted audience-Number one weakness.  Customer confidence in marketing messages and new product and service claims is at an all-time low. 6 Marketing 101

Reason to Believe: Kitchen Logic  Benefit is delivered using language the prospect can quickly relate to and easily understand  Freshest flowers because our greenhouse is out back  Lower interest rates because we have access to more capital  Double sweet donuts because we use 2X the sugar 7 Marketing 101

Reason to Believe: Personal Experience  Providing your customer with an opportunity to see, feel and experience your product benefits:  Samples  Demonstration-Experience TAB meeting  Sensory feedback-Listen to the CD Player 8 Marketing 101

Reason to Believe: Pedigree  Development Pedigree  Made with only state of Maine blueberries  Marketing Pedigree  Number one best selling muffins in America  Trademark Pedigree  Julia Child’s Blueberry Muffins 9 Marketing 101

Reason to Believe: Testimonials  Customer Testimonials  “Beware you won’t be able to eat just one.” John Sampson, Boston.  Expert testimonials  The AMA has found the antioxidants in blueberries can help prevent some forms of cancer. 10 Marketing 101

Reason to Believe: Guarantee  Directly linked to the level of risk perceived to be taking  “We guarantee to exceed your expectations or we’ll work for no fee until we do. There is no fine print.” 11 Marketing 101

Real Reason To Believe 12 Marketing 101Pedigree Guarantee Experience Kitchen Logic Testimonial 42% 45% 41% 60% StrategyProbability of Success

Compare Your Company to Your Competitor  Compare materials you used in creating your reasons to believe for your company with the materials of your top competition.  List an element that enhances credibility for you versus your competition.  Add to your list the unstated things that should give customers confidence with your product versus your competition. 13 Marketing 101

Offer a meaningful perceived difference  Needed to get someone to change purchasing behavior unless non objective decisions are being made because of personal relationship reasons.  It is how customers decide if their purchase decision should be based on value versus price.  Small businesses’ most important weapon in competing with larger competitors. 14 Marketing 101

How relevant is your difference?  Is your difference real or a gimmick? Gimmick differences typically don’t work.  Is the difference based on customer needs?  Do you have clear difference to point out to your customers?  Is your idea evolutionary or revolutionary? 15 Marketing 101

Crafting Dramatic Difference  Create your dramatic difference in the benefit offering by starting with an Overt Benefit and Real Reason to Believe.  The unbeaten path is not nearly as comfortable to travel on as the highway of conformity, but worth it for greater marketing results. 16 Marketing 101

Crafting Dramatic Difference (continued)  Put it in writing  If you can not write it, you can not do it!  When distilled to a short phrase, it either glows or is exposed as a mirage. 17 Marketing 101

Two Key Tasks of Successful Marketing  Delivering the proper message: It is the message that motivates customers to buy  Selecting the right medium: Where you say it to reach potential customers 18 Marketing 101