Writing Effective Benefits Statements

How to turn features into compelling benefits that matter to customers

One of the most common trap the marketing folks get into when working on technical products is focusing on the features of a product rather than the benefits to the end user. Features are great - we all want to know what is in a product and want to be able to compare it to other products. But at the same time there are many features that, while the benefits may be obvious to the Marketer or Product Manager working on them, may leave potential customers wondering why they matter.

Here's an example. Back when I was the Product Manager for the Human Interface for the MacOS at Apple, the company would routinely release new technologies with each operating system release. Since many of these technologies were very "cool" by technology standards they would get talked about as feature. A few examples include QuickDraw GX and QuickTime.

Now for those of us who are more technical geeks, or for those who followed what Apple was doing we immediately understood what Apple meant when they said "includes the new QuickDraw GX graphics and printing architecture and version 2.0 of QuickTime". But for the other 99.999% of the world, stating some benefits would have answered the age old question of "So why should I care" (and "So why should I upgrade").

When writing effective benefits statements think of the phrase "Which means that you can". What do I mean by this? To give you an idea I'll use the 280 Group as an example (this is the part of the article where we do the shameless self-promotion).

One of the "Features" that we promote is that we provide "Hand Picked Marketing & Product Management Consultants and Contractors". On its own you might say "So What?", but here's the benefit statement.

FEATURE:
"Hand Picked Marketing & Product Management Consultants and Contractors…"

Which means that you can…

BENEFIT
"…save the time and hassle of doing the work yourself to find a qualified consultant, check their references, etc."

Here's another example:

FEATURE:
"Seasoned Professional and Experienced Consultants…"

Which means that you can…

BENEFIT
"…rest assured that you will have a committed and professional resource to see the project all the way through and get excellent results."

The "Which means that you can" phrase helps bring out the real value to your customers. They don't care about technology or features if there isn't an associated benefit to them. This may seem like Marketing 101, but it is amazing how many people neglect this when writing their marketing content.

To wrap up, let's go back to the Apple example. Now if I told you that you should upgrade to the newest version of the MacOS because you'll get QuickTime 2.0, which means that can watch movies on your computer that are twice as big and are much higher quality, would you be a little more prone to want to upgrade?

About the Author:
Brian Lawley is the President of the 280 Group, the Product Marketing & Product Management Experts™. The 280 Group provides consulting, contractors, training and templates to help companies define, launch and market breakthrough new products. For more information about the 280 Group's services and toolkits (Product Roadmap, Product Launch, Beta Program, Developer Program & others) visit http://www.280group.com./No. of Times this article has been viewed : 2392

View the original article here

Benefits of ISO 9001 quality management system

These days, ISO 9001 certification almost helps an organization improve business reputation. The ISO 9001: 2008 to facilitate standard requires the implementation of a documented quality management system, improved performance and efficiency.

ISO 9001 certification is for any organization, regardless of size, type or product including service. A number of requirements that must meet an organization in order meet ISO 9001 standard meet customers, regulatory and legal requirements.

Make sure that customer satisfaction with the quality management system is a key objective of the standard. The ISO 9001 standard includes elements that require monitoring and measurement of processes and continuous improvement.

To achieve certification, an organization should have a documented quality management system and a system of documents. The three main objectives of the documentation should be for the transmission of information, evidence of compliance and knowledge sharing. Quality management system documentation can be in any form or type of media such as paper, electronic or image.

Key elements of the standard must be a compliant quality management system. There are five sections that outline the requirements of a compatible system, section 4 quality management system, section 5 management responsibility, section 6 resource management, section 7 product realization and section 8 measurement analysis.

ISO 9001 section 4 requires that an organization has a documented system of procedures for the control documents and records. Section 5 requires that include quality management system to a quality policy and for the senior assign management, management, commitment, responsibility and authority and perform management reviews

Section 6 of the standard requires your system to address and requirements for resources, human resources and training to verify infrastructure and work environment.

Section 7 of the standard specifies requirements for planning, design and development, purchasing, production, control of customer data property and monitoring and measurement.

Section 8 defines the quality management system requirements for measurement, monitoring and improvement and includes internal audit, control of non-conforming product, corrective and preventive measures of which all mandatory procedures are defined by the standard subclause subclause.

ISO 9001: 2008 refers specifically to only 6 documented procedures, but other documentation of an organization may be necessary to manage the processes that are required for the effective operation of the QMS. In addition to the minimum document requirements, the standard defines twenty-one specific requirements for records.

There are several requirements of ISO 9001: 2008, where a quality management system to add value by preparing other documents approved compliance such as process to demonstrate flow charts, organization charts, process descriptions, specifications, instructions, supplier lists and test plans.

The documentation in a system ISO 9001 certification requires less than incriminating to the year 2000 and the value has never been higher ISO 9001 certification for an organization. Certification sends a clear message to all interested parties that an organization is committed to high standards and continuous improvement.

Learn how you can implement your own Quality management system both cost effective and easily by purchasing one of our quality manual packages. You can also in this ISO 9001 manual be interested to develop of a HACCP system.