Making Good Things Happen to Good Products.

Attribute Rich and Benefit Poor? How this Impacts Your Business Growth.

In this issue:

• Product attributes do not enable differentiation.?
• A distinctive benefit enables differentiation and premium price.
• Attributes are only the reasons to believe in your business name.

In business, it is easy to assume something like this…

If you have a better product, you will differentiate and succeed…

Just promote it and it will win…right?

Think again.

Product attributes do not differentiate a brand or business.

In fact, products and services don't stand without a brand to support them in the long run.

They become generics and end up competing on price. Lost in a sea of sameness.

Why do so many good products fail?

Product - Market Fit is frequently cited as one big cause of failure.

However, the issue is deeper. Focusing on product attributes instead of brand benefits is at the core of it. And the simple reason is that product attributes can be copied.??Brand Benefits are unique.

Product attributes can be imitated by your competitors and sold for a lower price.?

Even with patent protection, when it expires, product differentiation evaporates.

This doesn't happen to brand benefits.?

What enables differentiation is?a distinctive benefit for a relevant customer desire.

Product attributes, as great as they may be, are only “reasons to believe” in a name.

On the other hand, brand benefits are unique. They are very difficult, even impossible to copy.

This is true across industries whether you sell technology, services, snacks, or knickknacks.?

And this principle also applies to building a personal brand to advance careers and side hustles.?

Thriving organizations?market benefits. Not generic product attributes

They build brand value by selling what customers want, not only a “good product”.

A benefit that customers are happy to pay a premium price for.?

A premium price that enables high margins, the kind of margins that P&L’s love.

The more you lean on your brand benefit, the stronger your differentiation will be.?

When you do this, it gets very difficult to replace you.

However, the more you focus on selling your product attributes, the more generic you become.?

When you do this, it gets easier to replace you.

Look around, and you will confirm that this is reality.?

Shouldn’t a “better mousetrap” be enough to win?

The world does not work that way.

Igniting growth requires a shift in mindset.

It requires putting the customer at the centre of all business planning.?

It is upgrading your thinking from “product-innovation” to “benefit-innovation”.

This is easier said than done.

Consider these examples?

-???????There are many vehicles in the world…but there is only one Mercedes-Benz.

-???????There are countless coffee shops… but there is only one Starbucks.

-???????There are millions of pens…but there is only one MONTBLANC.?

The idea that these brand names brought to your mind is what differentiates them.?

It is the set of values and beliefs that you associate in your mind with each of those names.

They stand out because they focus on the customer benefit, not only on product attributes.

The brand idea is not the product attributes. It is much more.

The product attributes of these brands fulfil the brand promise, but they are not the benefit.

If you market in a crowded category, here are a few considerations.

Perception is reality. It exists in the minds of people, not in the product.

Brand benefits exist in your customer’s mind, not on shelves, a brand book or on social media.

The customer’s mind. That is where you build your brand’s benefits and the desire for them.

Find out if customers can articulate a valuable benefit they see in your brand.?

If you find out that your customers can only see and remember your product attributes, you have a brand strategy challenge ahead of you.?

If your brand is in this situation, you will want to consider accelerating your differentiation and building a meaningful brand before a lookalike product does it.?

Increasing the value of your brands is YOUR job, and it never ends.?

Every business is in an ever-changing environment.?

To continue to be relevant, a brand needs to increase its value to the customer through innovation.

Valuable innovation for the customer is when a brand makes things easier for them.?

Consider the expansion of the Uber brand. It is a major global success because it made getting a ride very easy to do.??And delivered on that promise in a big way.

Yes, serious technology was behind it, but customers care only about the benefit.

So, practice focusing your organization on your customer’s desired state of mind.?

Show them how your brand benefits get them closer to it. Then arrange the product and services around that promise.

Challenge your customer-centric approach. It is easy to become complacent.

Ask yourself these questions frequently:

Are you creating the kind of distinctiveness for your brand that is very difficult to imitate?

What actions are making your customers increasingly willing to pay a premium price???

Or is your promise eroding and pushing you to compete on price?

Are you using your brand as a major asset in building your business strategy??

Is your marketing investment increasing the bond between customers and your brand?

The more affirmative answers to these questions, the more you will be elevating your brand away from lookalike products.?

In summary,

-???????A customer-centric behaviour in business impacts financial results.

-???????A distinctive benefit enables differentiation and premium price

-???????Your product attributes will not enable a sustainable differentiation.?

-???????Attributes are only the reasons to believe in your business name.

The skills and behaviours needed to build strong brands can always be learned and sharpened.

Written by Peter Rodriguez MBA.?

Peter helps leaders ignite growth in 4 weeks with the Brand Igniter? Methods that include BrandMI?,?BrandWay?and?BrandRoots?.

He is a Brand Growth Strategist and a Chartered Marketer with a 3-decade career as a senior Marketing Executive running?some of the world's best known brands in companies like Pfizer, Nestle, J&J Smucker and Kellogg in Canada and globally.

Peter is the CMO of Brand Igniter? Inc.?

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