How to Identify Killer Marketing Attributes
Name your prized possession. Now pick the top three reasons in order that describe why it has so much value to you.
My prized possession is my husband. He has a lot of great qualities. The second time I really looked at him I felt a magnetic attraction. I was taken by his 6’4” of height, strong chin, and green eyes. Now that we’ve been married for a couple of decades the top three qualities are; blazing sense of humor, commitment to our family, and his love of music.
These qualities are examples of attributes that define his unique value to me, his loving wife. Often when other dashing men try to grab my attention, I compare them to my husband. Are they as funny? Are they committed to the girls and me? Can they play any stringed instrument and fill my house with music?
They cannot compete, the answer is always no!
Now a marriage partner and say an enterprise security software solution have a completely different set of qualities. The qualities or attributes of technology products often go unexplored. It is easier to describe the product in great detail from its functions down to the specifications. Comparing attribute ownership against the competition may become too political to tackle. Why someone buys a product and why they keep it can also change over time and experience. Knowing your products attributes defined by personal experience are crucial to understanding your place in the mind of your consumer.
Attribute ownership is one of the most powerful ways to differentiate and position a product.
It is imperative that you become familiar with competitive attributes because you cannot share attributes. It takes a careful analysis of what attributes the customer already associates with your product and your competitors’ products.
Great attributes are simple benefit oriented words. You can have different attributes in different markets. You want to own the attributes that are the most valuable to your target market.
Following is a list of attributes that I use as a guideline:
Mixture of Attributes – often a product will have multiple attributes that create a unique position in the market. Your product may have multiple attributes that provide a high value to your customer that your competitors lack.
Special characteristic, peculiarity or distinctive feature – evaluate those attributes that put your product in a special category of value to your customer. You will want to make noise about distinctiveness that exploit your competitors weaknesses.
Highly desired attributes:
Leadership and or Heritage
Market Specialty
User Preference
Next generation, Coolness factor, Hotness factor
Product manufacturing process
How to analyze competitive attributes
- To get started on your attribute analysis, list your competitor and the brand.
- What comes to mind first when you think of each brand.
- What do you believe your customers think when they think of each brand.
- What does each competitor say on their website that indicates what attributes they may be emphasizing.
- What negative attributes are your competitors using to complete against each brand?
- Now what attribute/s do you want to own?
- What does the chart of this information tell you about your attributes?
My favorite book on competitive differentiation is still the bestseller, Differentiate or Die, by Jack Trout. Mr. Trout continues to be one of my favorite marketing thought leaders and I have learned a great from him throughout my career.
I encourage you to identify competitive attributes and remember to use them consistently in your positioning and benefit statements.
