Benefit over matter
April 22, 2008
We’ve all done it before, usually out of necessity.
We’ve created ads that are jam packed with information. We just start plugging things in. This element has to be there. That element cannot be taken out. My boss will freak if she doesn’t see the logo a little bigger. Here’s a list of features to add. And we have a special promotion that needs to be included. Don’t forget the Web site, both phone numbers, our seventeen locations and the names of each of our managers.
And by the way, the ad needs to be a little smaller.
It happens all the time. Each company has a lot to say in a very small space. But when it comes down to it, how much of it is necessary?
At a recent SDAF luncheon, Steve Lance of Unconventional Wisdom talked about how often advertising and marketing is driven by a list of features that the reader is expected to extrapolate into a perceived benefit. Really, Steve says, it should be the other way around. The benefit should be front and center. The details can come later.
What are you going to promote? A vehicle’s 3rd Generation Swiss-Engineered Classically Mounted ABS Brakes? Or a vehicle’s unprecedented safety (which, coincidentally, happens to be due to those aforementioned brakes).
Imagine your typical cable television remote. Of the 75 buttons featured, only about 10 of them really matter. Channel up and down, volume up and down, power and, to a lesser extent, the guide and record buttons. Take the rest of the buttons off and you’ve got a sleek, easy to use interface.
You know, like an iPod – the single most popular electronic device of this generation.
Your message could be the same. Why mention every single product feature when your audience really just wants to know why they should care? Pare it back, wow them with some blistering creative, create an image in their mind, tell a story in ten words or less and drive them to get more information on their time, not yours.
A vehicle’s safety is going to create a stronger emotional tie than the brand of ABS brakes being used. A music device’s style and functionality is going to create more of a buzz than FM capability, multi-colored moving display, optional earphones and side-impact airbags. (Oops. Got my feature set confused).
Why make things so complicated when all you need to do is leave a lasting impression?
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