Marketing is a business strategy that has moving parts to it. There are many aspects that are essential for you to have in order for your marketing campaign to be the best it can be. Two vital marketing components include features and benefits. These concepts may sound similar but they are very different and should be used accordingly in order to be effective.
What Are Features?
Features are essentially what your company’s products and services include. For example, if you sell B2B technology products, the features list what’s included with the product or what the product is. In other words, it’s how the product or service works. Benefits are different.
What Are Benefits?
Benefits differ from features as benefits describe how the product or service will help your company improve. In other words, the features of the product or service will lead to certain benefits being realized by your company.
How to Tell the Difference Between the Two?
The best way to tell the difference between features and benefits is to look at the words and see if they prompt an emotional or experiential response. Features are less emotional and more fact-based. On the other hand, benefits will touch an emotional point with the prospective buyer and let them know how the product or service can help them achieve their business goals.
Where to Use Features and Benefits for Effective Marketing
It’s a good idea to use features and benefits with business marketing. For effective marketing, make sure you use features and benefits properly by following the tips below:
- Introduce features first to highlight the product or service
- Next use benefits to show the prospective buyer how they can use these features and products or services to their advantage
- Don’t talk about all features in the benefits portion of marketing but instead focus your benefits on the main features
- Focus on selling benefits not features
- Show the customer how this product or service solves a pain point via the benefits
- Tailor your benefits description to meet the needs of each individual client or potential customer
Now that you know the difference between features and benefits you are ready to put this effective marketing strategy into motion!