Direct Selling: Information Plus Emotion

How to create your higher-order benefit

July 2008 By Brent Niemuth

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If you asked someone on the street what he thought of your brand, what words would you want him to use? Friendly, sophisticated, genuine, trustworthy, fun, caring, trendy, solid, smart? These descriptive words help define who you are. They give the consumers a clear picture of who they’re dealing with. But it’s important to remember that you can’t be all things to all people. You can’t be conservative and trendy. You can’t be whimsical and buttoned-up. Be true to who you are, realizing that you will undoubtedly alienate some people. That’s OK. In fact, that’s good. It helps you maintain focus on your core customers.

What Do You Do?
This isn’t simply saying, “We sell widgets.” What do you provide that’s truly different from the competition? What is it that attracts customers to you?

Think of this as your unique selling proposition (what we call your “one thing”). What one thing clearly sets you apart? I’m sure you could list many things that you feel are unique, so why just choose one? Because what we’re looking for here is focus. The simpler the idea, the better. People can’t remember half a dozen selling propositions for every brand they interact with. But chances are they can remember one. What is it that makes your brand different? Focus on that.

Why Does It Matter?
Here’s the tough one, but also perhaps the most important. If customers are looking for a reason to buy, above and beyond mere product features, then we have to communicate to them why they should buy from us and not the other guy.

We must convince them that there’s a real benefit in doing business with us, an emotional takeaway that a relationship can be built on. This is your higher-order benefit.

Ideally, there should be a direct connection between your unique selling proposition and your higher-order benefit. One leads to the other.

So, why base this important element of your brand on emotion, an intangible thing? In the words of Marty Neumeier in his book “The Brand Gap”: “Because it’s the language of feeling, and, in a society that is
information-rich and time-poor, people value feeling more than information.” The fact is, people want to feel good about the brands they buy from. They want to feel they have shared values. They want to feel that the company understands them. It’s everything we look for in a strong relationship.

Tapping Into Higher-Order Benefits
Once you identify your brand’s higher-order benefit, it regains focus and often renewed energy. The higher-order benefit can be used as a filter for everything the brand does. It can affect merchandising decisions, advertising messaging, hiring choices, even employee morale. It becomes the reason you do business.

Here’s an example of a brand’s higher-order benefit and how it’s used to its advantage. Jeep is known for its rugged, off-road vehicles. In fact, off-road is its “one thing.” Jeep doesn’t make a vehicle that can’t (or shouldn’t) be taken off road. The brand earned its reputation as the standard vehicle used in World War II and has maintained that persona ever since. It hasn’t lost focus. But it’s taken that unique selling proposition to another level and created a higher-order benefit. What is it? Fun.

People who drive a Jeep want to have fun outdoors. The fact they can take the vehicle off road and go anywhere allows them the freedom to have fun. You see, Jeep knows it’s not just about the vehicle, but what you can do with the vehicle. It’s the emotional takeaway.

The end result: You buy a Jeep, you have fun. Simple. Think of a time when you’ve seen someone driving down the road on a sunny day in a Jeep with the top down, the doors off and the wind blowing through her hair. The first thing you thought was, “That looks like fun.” And if it didn’t look like fun, then Jeep probably isn’t selling to you.

Fun is the concept that binds all Jeep owners together. They feel like a part of a community, and Jeep fosters that relationship. In fact, there’s a place on Jeep’s Web site that allows all Jeep owners to share photos, videos or stories about their fun adventures. Jeep’s tagline summarizes this well-defined company philosophy … “Have fun out there.”

Jeep first understood who it is: It’s a young, rugged, adventurous brand that celebrates the great outdoors. Then, it identified what it does (the one thing that makes it different from the competitors): Its vehicles are made for serious, off-road driving. It’s at the core of who Jeep is. Finally, it elevated this positioning to a higher-order benefit, something that appeals to its customer base on an emotional level: fun.

Use this model as you define (or redefine) your brand, and you’ll undoubtedly reap the benefits of greater focus, renewed excitement, stronger messaging, increased sales and ultimately, greater brand loyalty. Now that’s fun!

Brent Niemuth is creative director and brand evangelist for J. Schmid & Assoc. in Mission, Kan. You can reach him at brentn@jschmid.com.