Choose Benefits Over Features

Article Excerpt

A basic rule of marketing is to “turn a feature into a benefit.” That is, you describe the feature so that it sounds as if it’s an actual benefit for the people you aim to sell to. For example, hedge-fund marketers stress the fact that much of the money in hedge funds comes from rich private individuals. Today’s investment innovations let you place $5,000 or $10,000 in a hedge fund that otherwise demands a minimum investment of $1 million or more. The basic feature here is that ‘rich people have put money in these things ‘ and the sales pitch is ‘ so you should too”. But this feature may not be a benefit for you. In fact, it may be irrelevant or even negative. First, some of your rich co-investors are probably getting a far better deal than you are. They may pay lower management fees than you do. They may have easier terms for redemption. Above all, their returns probably have…