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Strengths, Benefits and Features!

This tip is based on the tip published in the May 2002 issue of the AWARE Marketing Tips Newsletter.

A key stage in marketing planning is identifying company strengths and weaknesses. Similarly, companies need to understand competitor strengths and weaknesses. The problem facing many companies is

What is a strength?

and

What is a weakness?

Many people confuse strengths, benefits and features - labelling them all strengths. In reality, this confusion can actually damage ones marketing effort because the failure to understand the difference will lead to poor decisions and strategies that fail to address the real issues.

Take for example a product, produced by two competing companies.

Company A produces the product in three sizes - small, medium and large. They also offer the product in red, blue and green colours. The price is $20 for the small size, $39 for medium and $55 for the large size. The costs of producing the small size are $10, $20 for the medium and $30 for the large. I.e.

Company B only offers one product size - medium. They also offer only one colour - blue. The price for company B's product is also $39 but it costs them only $19 to produce it. Which of the above is

1. a strength,
2. a benefit
3. a feature?

The answer depends on what customers actually want.

If customers want the product in various sizes and colours then offering this is a benefit. However as it is likely that this can easily be copied by other companies it cannot usually be called a strength. If the different colours are of no interest to customers who always pick the first item available in the desired size irrespective of colour then product colour is not actually a benefit - but a feature. As there is a cost in producing multiple colours, this could even be viewed as a weakness. Finally, although company B does not have the same range as Company A, it's production costs are lower. If this cannot be copied by company A then this is actually a strength.

In summary,

• A strength is something that one company possesses that cannot easily be copied by competitors. The company has a competitive advantage with the strength.
• A benefit is something that one company possesses that is not offered by competitors, but could be copied if they felt it would be beneficial for them. It does not convey any competitive advantage - but does result in the company gaining customers attracted by the benefit.
• A feature is something that the company offers that has no real benefit to customers, but does add variety to the company's product offering. As such, features that are not wanted by customers (i.e. offer no benefit) are likely to be weaknesses, unless there is no cost involved in producing them.

Make sure, when you look at products that you are clear as to the product strengths, benefits and features - and use this understanding in your marketing planning.

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