Benefits And Branding

Most people, even in business, don’t understand the difference between “features” and “benefits.” And consequently they don’t understand how to brand what they do and/or what their team does.

So here’s a very basic example of the difference:

Feature - what something is or what someone does.
*** The person who makes a drinking glass works with heated sand

Benefits - how someone’s life is made better by the feature
*** A drinking glass permits you to drink liquid from a safe and easy container

Try this exercise—write down a description of what you do (the Features) and then write out 2-3 Benefits to your company and/or customers.

Example:
*** I sell real estate
*** With my expertise I guide my customers to understand what makes for good property value so they can be confident when they invest.

How did you do with your exercise?

There are many reasons to understand this difference, but a key opportunity remains unavailable to you unless you master “Benefits” and that’s being able to accurately Brand yourself and/or your team and/or company.

Your brand is what you provide that solves a problem for your company or customer, in other words what you do that provides important Benefits.

So now, next exercise: how can you say the benefits you provide—what might become your brand---in 10 words or less?

Examples”
*** Sales Training guaranteed to increase sales in 30 days or less
*** Nutritionist who loves to reduce employees sick days to zero
*** Code-Queen who inspires high school girls to create careers in STEM

Benefits and Branding are fairly sophisticated elements of business, and must be learned and practiced. So if they are new ideas please be patient with yourself!

(Photo: Personal Branding Dilemma by Stefano Principato/Flickr)

Judith Sherven, PhD and her husband Jim Sniechowski, PhD https://JudithandJim.com have developed a penetrating perspective on people’s resistance to success, which they call The Fear of Being Fabuloustm. Recognizing the power of unconscious programming to always outweigh conscious desires, they assert that no one is ever failing—they are always succeeding. The question is, at what? To learn about how this played out in the life of Whitney Houston for example, and how it may be playing out in your own life, check out their 6th book: https://WhatReally KilledWhitneyHouston.com

Currently consultants on retainer to LinkedIn providing transformational executive coaching, leadership training and consulting as well as working with other corporate and private clients around the world, they continually prove that when unconscious beliefs are brought to the surface, the barriers to greater success and leadership presence begin to fade away. You can learn about their core program “Overcoming the Fear of Being Fabulous” by going to
https://OvercomingtheFearofBeingFabulous.com

Their 7th book, short and to the point, “25 Power Speaking Tips That Will Leave Your Audiences Wanting More,” is available in kindle at: https://tinyurl.com/25PWRSPKGTips

And if you are involved in marketing, you may be interested in their 5th book “Love Your Customers and They Will Love You Back” https://tinyurl.com/lovecustomersbk