In Marketing, Consumers Want to Know What is In It For Me

People aren’t watching your commercial or video because they want you to sell them your product. They’re watching because they want you to sell them a solution.

In the world of online marketing, oftentimes marketers forget this very basic concept. Think of it as painting pictures when selling. The idea is that you want to tell the consumer why they need a feature, so that the consumer will visualize how each feature will make their life better, easier, more efficient. How it will make them more money, or provide a solution to a need. It’s not uncommon for salespeople to go on and on about the features of a vehicle. It has this type engine. It’s safe. It has Bluetooth, etc. They may as well (and some probably are) read the window sticker to the customer. Great salespeople, however, understand that the customer doesn’t necessarily care about the fact that the vehicle has Bluetooth, unless it’s tied back to how it benefits the customer.

Mr. Customer, one of the great features on this vehicle is that it has Bluetooth functionality. This will allow you to connect your cell phone wirelessly and accept or make phone calls without taking your hands off of the steering wheel. Which will make your commute for you and your family safer.

Consumers may watch dozens of video walkarounds in their car-shopping journey. If you’re doing live video walkarounds of your vehicles, consider this: How would you do a walkaround for a customer right in front of you? Why would you do your live video walkaround for your website and VDP’s any differently?

Create more memorable videos that capture a customer’s attention and sell the consumer on why they need the features of each vehicle. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t talk about the vehicle’s features. What I’m saying is that you’ll create more powerful videos if you tell the consumer why those features are important and highlight the impact each feature will have on their lives.

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Comment by steven chessin on May 21, 2015 at 3:36pm: Tim - It is easy to assume that customers make the automatic mental /emotional connection of feature and BENEFIT. Selling is providing the insights that help them make the right decision to improve their life.

For a customer spending $ 10 a day in gas to commute 50 miles a day, $ 200 per month is the lease payment on a new EV car plus the car pool lane. That's a free new car ! Selling their old car is cash in their pocket. And for some the satisfaction of driving "green". But it is the other green benefit that closes the deal.Just imagine how many rookie salesmen are missing the key sales points on every car they present ! Burning leads.

One of the "hidden" benefits of the whole video presentation thing is for management to monitor what salesmen know and say and if they are doing it right or not. Here's an old sample from 2008. A very simple video - but listen how smoothly the veteran salesman follows each feature with a quick statement about that feature's benefit. And he keep stressing "people mover" as the primary human benefit - "12 passenger is the vehicle's designation type. It might seem to be self-explanatory but if it were we would not need salesmen to explain the benefits. The difference between THIS van and a thousand others isn't the vehicle - but the presentation this one has that the others don't have. The benefit to the salesman is obvious ... HE is featured.

So that raises the question, Is this marketing to all or is it sales to one ? The answer is ... sales if sent to one and marketing if available to all. So it is both. Although I would define marketing as what is done for the entire inventory. This is technically personal prospecting by this salesman, for this car. ONLY FLICK FUSION allows me to do BOTH at the same time. All "video" is not the same. It has to reach "one and all".