In their attempts to gain visibility, many new businesses make the mistake of promoting the features rather than the benefits of their products or services.

A promotional strategy that focuses on the features of a product, such as its technical merits, is almost always less effective than a strategy that focuses on what a product can do for the person buying it. For example, one of the most successful advertising campaigns ever launched by McDonald’s featured the jingle, “You deserve a break today—at McDonald’s.” McDonald’s could have stressed the cleanliness of its stores or the uniformity of its French fries, which are features. Instead, it struck a chord with people by focusing on one of the biggest benefits of eating at McDonald’s—not having to cook. Although not as obvious in today’s society, not having to cook a meal at home was a rare treat when McDonald’s started using this tagline.

The same rationale can be applied to any product or service. Consider the ZUCA rolling backpack (introduced in Truth 32). In her initial attempts to get the ZUCA noticed, Laura Udall, the company’s founder, could have talked about the ZUCA’s durable aluminum frame, its oversized silent wheels, its washable nature, and its number of available colors. All these are features. But it’s more likely that she focused on the benefits of the product—the fact that it relieves back pain and is durable enough that a child can sit on it while waiting for the school bus. (The ZUCA includes a fold-out seat.) These are the benefits or the value that the ZUCA delivers to its users.

Sometimes it’s hard to resist the temptation to focus on features rather than benefits. For instance, it’s easy to imagine why an engineer who has just invented a new product wants to talk about the product’s technical specifications. Similarly, it’s natural for a company that has just developed an improved digital camera to want to point out all the bells and whistles that its camera has that other cameras don’t. However, one of the most fundamental precepts of marketing is that “customers don’t buy features; they buy benefits.”^[1] The first thing that customers want to know is how the product or service will help them accomplish their goals and improve their lives.