Okay, so what do you have to offer? According to Fast Company (1998) the term "feature-benefit" is a standard model used by the corporate biggies to create a brand. This means that you as a company offer a feature that the client benefits from. Today in 2008, the internet has changed the way we conduct business remarkably. Likewise, business has changed the way we use the internet. Again, one thing has not changed...marketing is marketing. We have certainly become advanced in our knowledge about how to market our companies better by using Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and by learning to use tools such as Google AdWords and Google Goggles, but none of this will make a difference if you are marketing a company that has not been branded.
Let's face it...if you are going to make pizza like the guy across the street, I will stick with the guy across the street. Or maybe I will use the both of you and you will have to split 50/50 rather than 100%. Why not instead work with the marketing tools rather than against them and become distinctive...brand yourself...create a feature-benefit. Fast Company uses Nordstroms as an example of what a feature benefit is, but I will use Jack in the Box. Jack in the Box teaches their employees to provide Hassle Free Service to all of their customers. The feature is that the representatives of Jack in the Box are taught to go out of their way to please customers by giving them what they ask for, replacing food, and assembling food to order. The customer benefit is feeling that their business counts. They are not just another sale and they know that if they have a problem with the food or the service they will not be hassled for wanting resolution. Whether or not Jack in the Box stands by this model is not for me to say.
"The power of a truly great brand is its ability to beguile us and, in some cases, to define, at least in part, who we are, notes Dayton Fandray in "A Brand New You" in the May 2006 issue of Continental magazine" (Nichols, N.D.).
A few simple ways to make culture are as follows:
- Always deliver what you say you will deliver
- Deliver on time
- Offer a new service for free
- Create blogs because dialogue is the key to success as it aids in making culture as well as keeps your clients and prospective clients informed.
- Offer an online course. This is just the beginning. The ideas are endless.
What feature have you created and decided you can deliver?
