It’s difficult in the marketing world to define marketing principles that are truly more than mere theories…

But the Eureka! Ranch has managed to do it.  Over the last decade, it has compiled and analyzed thousands of client cases related to the introduction of new product/service concepts and new marketing messaging for existing products/services.

This research has produced and quantitatively validated a number of well-proven and very practical conclusions for marketers of all types.

One of the key principles that emerged from this research dispels a dangerous marketing myth and therefore needs never-ending reinforcement. And it applies consistently across industries and consumer/business segments.

I’m referring to the critical importance of communicating what the Eureka! Ranch folks call your “overt benefit.”

The value of communicating benefits rather than mere features is hardly a breakthrough discovery.  The NEW news is just how overt that communication of benefits needs to be in order to produce a consumer response.

As consumers, we utilize only 2% of the information to which we’re exposed.  In the clutter of the marketplace, we need to “get it” quickly – in a matter of seconds.  In order for this to occur, marketers must be direct and focused on their most compelling one or two benefits.

Contrary to popular belief, there is a negative correlation between number of benefits presented by marketers and success in the market place.  Benefits more numerous than two actually tend to produce diminished results.  Therefore, marketers need to discipline themselves to capture the essence of their offerings in one or two easily observed benefits.

The communication philosophy that we must have the courage to embrace is to set a prospect say “no” because what you offer does not apply to her – NOT because she does not understand what you offer.

How do you build “overtness” into your marketing copy?

Add directness, bluntness, and specifics to your generic promises. (i.e. It’s not a “fast car wash,” it is a “6 minute car wash.”) Straight talk wins. Direct, to the point language out performs fancy word play in the minds of consumers.

8 More secrets from the Eureka! Ranch:

1. There is no difference in effectiveness between rational and emotional benefits.  HOWEVER, when rational and emotional benefits are combined, effectiveness suffers. You must make a clear decision to appeal to your consumer’s heart or mind – not both.
2. Benefits are relative to a specific target audience. When you focus clearly on a specific audience, you create expert credibility. And guess what… consumers expect to pay more for specialized expertise than generalist offerings.
3. When a customer buys your product or service, she’s often buying a moment that she has visualized in her mind.  To the extent that you can provide visualization of the moment of overt benefit (the defining moment of success for your product or service), your communications will be significantly enhanced.
4. Confusing people is NEVER a good strategy for winning their interest or patronage. Clever and obscure communication does not create consumer interest or curiosity.  It leads to rejection.
5. Benefits should be reduced to not more than 10 clear and focused words for maximum impact.
6. Beware of solving a problem that is not a real problem.  For a benefit to have motivational power with consumers, it must be relevant to their true needs – yet unexpected in that it offers a new insight or approach to addressing their needs.  The greater the anxiety that your prospects feel relative to a particular problem, the greater the chance that they will rush to the solution.
7. Beware of selling the absence of a problem instead of a positive benefit. There is far greater power in selling the positive than the absence of a negative.  Selling the absence of a negative requires that customers know that negative exists elsewhere in the marketplace. When prospects have to do more work, you generate less sales.
8. Beware of assuming knowledge. Do not assume consumers are aware of anything or anyone.

Saranne Rothberg is the Founder and CEO of The ComedyCures Foundation. Her blossoming non-profit brings laughter and therapeutic humor programs to children and adults living with illness, trauma and disabilities through large and small-scale comedy events.

She founded the organization from her chemo therapy chair in 1999 (she is a stage-4 breast cancer survivor) as a manifestation of her own experience with the healing power of laughter. Since then she has been featured on Good Morning America, Oprah, and most every other major news media you can imagine.

Her awards are too numerous to list, but Oprah has featured her as her “Hero” in her book Live Your Best Life.

Her events are booked out for years.

We met for the first time by phone last week to discuss the possibility of aligning her foundation with a breast cancer related initiative I’m working on. She was in the familiar position of selling the power of her organization.  And she did it remarkably well.

Here’s how she described her events.

“Take the spirituality of Deepak Chopra, the motivational energy of Anthony Robins, and the comedy and music of Saturday Night Live. Put it in a blender. And serve it with a stage-4 breast cancer miracle as the cherry on top. That’s a ComedyCures event.”

What a beautiful description. In a few quick sentences you’ve got it… lodged in your brain… no need for repetition.

I wrote a post a while back on the power of being concrete in your communication. What a great illustration.  I was reminded yet again that we don’t have to use business-speak to be compelling when we describe our businesses, products and services.

Communicating like this… is it any wonder that this one woman has been able to shine a ray of light into the lives of hundreds of thousands of people?

What do your customers really want from you? I’d classify this as an important question for any business. And today, I got a glimpse of something from which most of us can probably extract a valuable lesson.

A friend of mine who runs a thriving angel investor group in Virginia recently set up an account on the business networking site, LinkedIn. (If you don’t have one, you should probably think about it.) The other day, she challenged me to a race to see who could build a bigger network. She’s killing me.

One of the features that LinkedIn now offers is the ability to post a question to the community.  People answer publicly to establish credibility and domain expertise. So, as you might imagine, the answers tend to be thoughtful, well-articulated, and generally correct (or at least defensible).

Today someone asked the question, “what is your expectation of a Realtor?”

The question caught my attention, because I’ve been dealing with that topic today, and I happen to know the answer.  Oddly enough, this is a very well researched question, and the answer is surprisingly clear.

So I was intrigued to peruse the musings of the consultants, sales gurus, and marketing geniuses. They included the following:

“Do what it takes to sell the home.”

“Use internet tools for marketing.”

“Price the house correctly.”

“Well advertised open houses.”

“Listen to my needs.”

“Drive me around. Unlock the door. And shut up.”

“Show me homes within my budget.”

“Help solve contract/inspection issues.”

“Price it right. Sell it fast.”

I’m sure most of us would agree with these. But interestingly enough, none of the answer people on LinkedIn got it right.

When choosing a Realtor, the number one variable that dictates the selection is response time (how quickly did the Realtor respond to my inquiry?). A close second is the prospective client’s perception of how responsive the Realtor would be through the life of the transaction.

As simple as this sounds, it turns out that the number one driver of client satisfaction with a Realtor at the end of the transaction is communication and responsiveness (how responsive was my Realtor to my communication needs through the course of the transaction?).

In residential real estate, timely, relevant, value-added communication is THE KEY to satisfying clients. This is what the customer really wants. And the research is very clear that EVERYTHING else is a distant second. As a Realtor, you can score perfectly on the LinkedIn list, but if you fail to communicate well (and responsively) with your clients, you have an unhappy customer that won’t use you again and certainly won’t refer you to others.

What an amazingly fundamental need we as home buyers have when it comes to our selection and satisfaction with a Realtor.  And my strong suspicion is that this is in no way unique to home purchases – or even consumer transactions.

In medicine, it is well documented that malpractice suits have little to do with a doctor’s skills as a physician and mostly to do with his/her style of communication with patients. As patients, we want compassion and empathy.  We want to be heard by our doctors, and how they communicate with us will determine our propensity to sue them if they screw something up.

I’ll bet that most of us would be shocked to discover how basic our customers’ greatest needs are.  I’ll also bet that timely, relevant, value-added, compassionate, empathic communication is at (or darn near) the top of the list in most industries.

We marketers tend to over-think things at times.  When it comes to the question of what your customers REALLY want.  Start with the most basic needs related to communication.