Have you ever noticed that on the TV commercials for almost any national product, they rarely talk about the product itself? For example, when they show a commercial for a new car, they never show you the engine or the tires or the trunk or the interior.
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One of the most effective ways to market any product is to provide answers to the question, 'What's in it for me?' before the question is asked.
From the looks of it, these 'commercial people' don't have jobs (but always have money), don't eat right (but are never overweight), drive recklessly (but never get tickets), and rarely bathe (but have plenty of social partners).
And somehow, it is all because of the car they drive.
Of course, the TV commercial doesn't tell you that they live this dream life because they bought the right car - but subliminally, that's the message they are sending.
Basically the subliminal message answers the question, 'What's in it for me?' that most consumers ask themselves before they make a purchase.
Give them the answer before they ask the question
One of the most effective ways to market any product is to provide answers to the 'What's in it for me?' question before the question is asked. By doing this, you can provide answers to questions the consumer may not have considered possible, but certainly will consider appealing.
For example, I recently saw the following description of a book available at Amazon.com:
"In this book, you'll learn:
- How to get soda machines for FREE
- How to find the best deals on equipment purchases
- The three most profitable types of vending machines
- Four ways to boost sales
- How to find storage facilities and banks that will meet all your needs
- How to increase your business's credibility with prospective customers
- The three biggest scam warning signs
- .... (there were ten other items on this list)"
And maybe that's why the book Vending Business-In-A-Box shows up as number 32 on the Amazon best seller list for its category - because the description quickly tells 'What's in it for me?'
Answer the question first, then create the product
As I mentioned in two previous articles (The 5 minute guide to writing a script for your how to video, Part III and Brainstorming the perfect product) I am a firm believer in creating the marketing material for the product before you create the product.
Doing so allows you to create a 'What's in it for me?' list before you create the product.
Then you can use that list of answers as the development outline for product (ie. chapters in a book, report, DVD or video.)
Answer the 'What's in it for me?' question early and often in your marketing
One of the most effective ways to attract attention and win the hearts of paying customers is to answer the 'What's in it for me' question quickly and often within your sales message.
A good way to start your sales message is include a 'What's in it for me' answer in the headline (ie - Lose Ten Pounds This Weekend). And then follow that headline a few paragraphs later with a bullet list of at least 6 (but no more than 10) other 'What's in it for me' benefits to having the product.
Be careful not to confuse product features with customer benefits. Benefits are 'whats in it for me?', while 'features' are the technical details of the product (tire size, how much it weighs, mpg, etc.)
Initially the customer wants to know the benefits to owning the product. And only after they have been presented the benefits, should you consider covering some of the features of the product.
When providing details about the features of the product be be careful not to overwhelm the customer with too many details - as doing so might cause the customer to forget the benefits.
Examples
In addition to the description of the book, mentioned above, you can see examples of the 'what's in it for me' in almost all my product descriptions.
For example, visit http://www.sitebank.com and notice how the 'what's in it for me' question is answered in the headline of the page, and then again in each of the four following paragraphs.
Then notice how each product description again answers the question.
Here's an example of a product description that answers the 'what's in it for me' question early and often:
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Take the test
Take a look at your own product description and marketing materials. Do they pass the 'What's in it for me?' test?
Do they quickly and compellingly answer the question, 'What's in it for me?'
Are you sure?
If 'What's in it for me?' isn't being answered, you might want to change your marketing material (and perhaps even your product), so that the question is answered quickly and often - as doing so will increase sales.
