FunMarketer Lesson of the Week

Craig, What is the right relationship between Story, Benefits and Features?

The FunMarketer answer: Story reinforces you as you market your Company Brand, Benefits (and Features) reinforce the Product.

This might seem academic, but it’s not. Think about it – when you shop at a retail store, you expect that store to treat you a certain way regardless of what you buy. If you are at Wal-Mart, you expect cheap prices, clean stores, smooth checkout and not much else from the staff. If you are at JC Penney, you anticipate that somebody in the sales department will assist you.

It doesn’t matter what product you are buying at Wal-Mart or at JC Penney, you walk in expecting the company’s brand to be stable and aligned with what you’ve previously experienced. Story should always reinforce the brand. That’s why the combination of photos and headlines or imagery surrounding the customer in retail is so important. It is also why it is beyond Herculean for a retailer to occupy both the Upscale and the Discount position. It is nearly impossible for the imagery in the store to shoulder these two loads at the same time.

But when you are buying a product, you need to immediately convey what that product will do for the customer. Quick – parade your benefits out there: fast, front and center. Don’t assume listing the features will be sufficient. Computer and tech products are especially guilty of this. Processor speed, ram, etc – just listing all that in a long litany of features won’t convince anybody. If that new Model 500 processor is 50% faster than the old Model 400, announce that fact after you scream: “Get your work done in 1/2 the time!”

Hint – The photo/headline combinations Marketing Hawks dreams up each week for FunMarketer are intended to jumpstart your creative mind for either story or benefits. You can use these suggestions as a launchpad for ideas to enhance and reflect your brand, or that latest product you are pushing.

Call me for more ideas at 402-423-2444 or email me at funmarketer@marketinghawks.com

FunMarketer Free Campaign Idea of the Week

Here’s one that will work well for just about anything you are selling to families – from food to fashion.

Photo: Istock #4669594

Headline: Swing into Fall with Savings from Acme! This week only, 10% off…

FunMarketer Tip of The Week

Sometimes a bit of creative help is as close as your kitchen’s pantry. Need marketing ideas for an ad or campaign? Go grab some inspiration from some of the best packaging around – the cans. Just look at how little space these marketers have to work with – and how much they pack in. Pull down three or four cans – and drink in some inspiration. Hey, don’t forget the generic ’store-brands’. Plus, your writing might even become more honed by learning the importance of brevity. Why?

People who create graphics and words for the cans often must condense benefits into just one or two words. Look at the phrase: “Packed Fresh”. If you were writing copy for the internet or a print ad – maybe even a coupon – you would write: “Packed fresh so you enjoy the good health you deserve.”

Brevity works. Try it.

FunMarketer Phrase of The Week

“Heavenly”. Wow, talk about a phrase that is malleable. You can run with cloud images, food images, happy close-ups with eyes shut and smiles and faces uplifted in anticipation or enjoyment.

It’s one of the best one-word sentences you can end an ad with. And, if you’re clever enough, you can create a little mini-story around it.

Happy Marketing!

Craig Lutz-Priefert