Why every brand should clarify the benefit of its benefit
Any marketer worth his or her salt knows the importance of going beyond the functional attributes of the brand to speak to the benefits. After all, those benefits can demonstrate to prospects how the brand will save time, get better results, reduce costs, and more. When you demonstrate any of those to prospects, it gets their attention because they start to see the impact your brand can have on their lives.
But what if you want more than their attention? What if you want a deeper connection with those you hope to serve?
We have to move from their thoughts to their feelings.
From a post on purpose-driven marketing, Emotional Intelligence author Daniel Goleman offers this insight:
“...brands gain traction by becoming a part of how consumers desire to see themselves. At the core, marketing is always a conversation about identity – a way of helping people see themselves in the brands they patronize.”
Connecting with how people desire to see themselves
Making this deeper emotional connection requires that you go beyond the benefit you offer to helping them see the benefit of the benefit.
When you do this, you move beyond simply getting their attention to connecting with what they feel.
There is an interesting Porter Novelli/Cone Purpose Biometrics Study that reveals the physiological responses that participants had to purpose-driven branding. This is particularly relevant because a purpose-driven approach is one of the most powerful ways to express a brand’s benefit of the benefit.
Here are a few results from that study:
“Consumers demonstrate stronger physical and emotional responses to Purpose messaging: When brands lead with Purpose and connect on values, our biometrics
study revealed participants reacted with strong physical responses, including increased attention and arousal and, in cases, more positive emotion. This was in contrast to some of the responses received by functional narratives, including wavering attention and increased negative emotion.”
“Purpose builds deeper bonds: Biometrics respondents exposed to Purpose advertisements were significantly more apt to state they felt better about the brand and experienced a stronger emotional connection. Overall, this bond translates to a stronger sense of trust, loyalty and favorability. This new relationship builds champions who will protect the brand in good times and bad.”
“Purpose builds brand advocates who will readily amplify: When companies can
connect with consumers through Purpose, they create a loyal base ready to amplify the brand message. When exposed to Purpose advertisements during the biometrics study, respondents were significantly more likely to say they’d talk about the advertisement and the brand with friends and family, as well as share and discuss the advertisement on social media.”
From their heads to their hearts
Your benefit of the benefit goes beyond the functional aspects of your offering to connect with how your prospects desire to feel. It aligns with their idealized selves.
Think about those you hope to serve. What are their aspirations? In other words, what do they hope to become? Now think about how the benefit of your offering helps them work toward those aspirations. That’s how you start to get to your benefit of the benefit. And how you move from their heads to their hearts.