Jon & Kate Plus 8…Minus 1
July 1, 2009
Focusing on benefits and not features is a critical skill most people still struggle with. You have to understand what’s important to your customers, clients, and members if you’re going to get any brand loyalty at all.
Earlier this week, I was presenting at a conference, and happened to glance at an issue of USA Today. On the front cover of the Life section was this headline: “It’s official: TV’s Jon and Kate have filed for divorce.”
As I was explaining to the group the difference between features and benefits, I pulled out the newspaper and read the headline out loud, and saw puzzled looks on the faces of most of the 200 people in the room. I asked how many of them knew who “Jon & Kate” were, and about 20 hands went up. When I asked how many people cared that they were getting divorced, one hand went up. One person out of 200.
(In case you don’t know who they are – I didn’t before seeing the article – Jon & Kate Gosselin are the parents of eight children: a set of twins and a set of sextuplets who have their own reality TV show.)
This whole story concerns me for two reasons. First that people can become famous and get their own TV show for having six kids in one shot, or for being rich (Paris Hilton’s “The Simple Life”) or for being promiscuous (“A Shot at Love”) – all extremely popular shows, by the way.
The second reason is that many people seem to get caught up in these shows, obsessing on other people’s realities while short changing their own. Don’t get me wrong, I watch TV, and you could question my own choices in programming. But I’ve overheard conversations where people just go on and on and on about what’s happening to the people in their favorite reality show, while completely neglecting the actual work they’re being paid to do, or even worse, underestimating what truly matters: their own lives.
The lessons here are important to achieving success in your own marketing. First, make sure that what you think is important is also important to your market. Don’t make assumptions for other people based on your particular viewpoint on a given issue. Remember, in most cases, you are not your customer.
Second, recognize that people do crave diversion and escape from their own realities. If you can provide this through your own products and services, you can tap into a marketing channel that most people completely miss.
You don’t have to be a reality TV star, but you can position yourself as a “rock star” in your own sphere of influence.
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