(2 Topics)
1.
Features And Benefits
Your customers are generally only interested in product features that
translate into benefits. So, whether you’re developing a new product or
exploring a way to repackage an old one, it is important to think clearly
about the benefits you provide. Product features are not important in
themselves. Great as a product may be, customers won’t love it for its own
sake. They’ll only love it for the benefits it provides.
This topic is about translating product features into benefits that meet the
needs of your customers. It covers market research to identify benefits from
the customers’ perspective, how to develop a Unique Core Differentiator and
how to incorporate these benefits into marketing strategies to provide you
with long-term growth.
Basically there are three main ways in which you can compete in the marketplace:
- On Price
- By serving a niche market better than
anybody else
- On the individuality of your product or service
Which of
these is the better long-term strategy? Undoubtedly a lower price than the
competitor is an immediate advantage - but will it deliver a continuing
competitive edge? Differentiating your products from your competitors will
provide a much harder to match advantage for your business. This topic
concentrates on how to deliver benefits that exceed those of competing
products, by developing a differentiation strategy.
Drawing on some of Michael Porter’s ideas on how competition actually works
in the business world, this topic explores the value of performing a
competitive analysis on your business. This information will enable you to
focus on how your products rate against those of competitors and thus in
turn you can make informed decisions about the sort of strategy to use with
your product to gain the best competitive advantage.