Did you know that most of your marketing messaging is going unread by your prospects and clients? Don’t believe it? Ask a few people that have seen your marketing materials if they read over the information you provided them. They may have glanced at it, or looked it over quickly, but most did not read it all the way through. So how do you get them to read the marketing content you are so carefully preparing?

One of the ways to compel people to read your messaging is to talk in benefits not features. It is Marketing 101, but sometimes we forget the importance of the basics.

Definition of Features: Features are factual statements about — often distinctive characteristics of — a product or service. Features are a means of providing benefits to customers; for instance, “I have a CFP® designation” or “I have 25 years of experience” are features.

Definition of Benefits: Benefits are value statements about the feature of a product or service, with an emphasis on what the customer gets. A benefit answers the question, “Why should I care?” A benefit tells you that you should care because of the result. For instance, “In 25 years in the financial industry I have seen many down turns of the market. I have developed a long history and a lot of experience helping to protect clients’ money during difficult times.”

The benefits are the key. What people get is what they pay attention to. We have to give ourselves the best chance to get people to pay attention, or we may lose the opportunity to serve them.