Level up your marketing results using this 2900-year-old brain-dead easy “trick”

Ever pour your heart and soul into creating your social media post, your blog post, your podcast content… only to have absolutely no response?  Just “crickets”?

Make them crazy more effective with this one simple tip:

START WITH THE BENEFITS!

Was King Solomon the proverbial marketer? Back in his day he was considered the wisest man in the world. While few would consider him a salesperson or a marketer, there are a few things he can teach us about marketing. And one of the first things learned in sales or marketing training is this:

I had that drilled into my psyche – ”lead with the benefits”. And why did they say that? Because many people starting out in the sales or marketing world don't do that – and suffer horrible results.

Everybody's favorite radio station

Years ago I heard about everyone's favorite FM radio station. (For you Millennials and Gen Zs, FM radio was in the “old” days before internet streaming of Pandora, Spotify and iHeartRadio.) Over 20 years ago I heard this marketing mantra: Everybody's favorite radio station is WII-FM, which stands for: What's In It For Me

And that is where the marketing and sales game starts. Why?

Let's use a real-world scenario. Pretend for a moment you want to buy a new bicycle (sorry, I’m a bike geek). You walk into a bicycle shop and a salesperson walks up to you and starts talking about:

• Himself or Herself – why they love bicycles, how often they ride, their most recent epic ride, etc…
• Their company – how many bikes they've sold, the great facilities they have, the way they give back to the community, etc…
• Their bikes – the brands they sell, the different models and genres of bikes, etc…
• The features of their bikes – the carbon fiber frames, the compact gear sets, the aerodynamic wheels, etc…

YAWN! BORING!   (Has something like this ever happened to you?)

You’ve probably experienced the above scenario in a retail store, a used car lot, in blog posts, in sales letters and even in… social media.

Now none of these things are bad or wrong and might possibly at some point come into the conversation. Yet the pros never start off with those things.

Why?

Because you would most likely be thinking “Who cares?!? I don't care about you or your business or the bike brands or even the different features of your bikes! I want to know how I can _____ and how your bikes can help me get ________.” (You can fill in the blanks with the benefits you want.)

You are wondering “What's In It For Me?”

The salesperson should first find out what you are looking for. And not what kind of bike you want but what you want to do with it and how it can help you get ______. (again, fill in the blank with the benefits you desire)

Once they know what you really want out of that bike (what some people call “your desired outcome”) then – and only then – can they really focus in on the benefits to you for a certain bike. They should not focus on themselves, their business, their bikes or the features of their bikes. Their one and only focus should be on helping YOU get the BENEFITS that YOU WANT from a bike!

So START WITH THE BENEFITS! Find out what people want and then show them how your product or service can help them get what they want!

Was King Solomon the proverbial marketer?

Now back to Solomon and chapter one of Proverbs.  (Get it?!? Solomon – wrote most of the book of Proverbs in the Bible – proverbial marketer?  LOL)  Written about 2900 years ago, he starts out with a short one-liner, a very brief identification of who wrote it – kind of like when you read news articles on the web and often at the top of the story is a short line stating who the author is.

But then he immediately gets into five verses talking about… the BENEFITS of reading what he's written – his proverbs! Check it out:

• for gaining wisdom and instruction,
• for understanding words of insight,
• for receiving instruction in prudent behavior, doing what is right and just and fair;
• for giving prudence to those who are simple,
• for giving knowledge and discretion to the young,
• to add to their learning,
• to get guidance,
• for understanding proverbs and parables,
• for understanding the sayings and riddles of the wise.

He goes through all that – nine different benefits – before he even gets to his first proverb, his first nugget of wisdom in verse 7.

And why does he start with the benefits?  We don’t know what exactly prompted him to do that. But from a marketing mindset there are two possible reasons:

1. It's a sorting or filtering process. If someone really doesn't want or need those benefits, they can choose to stop reading right now. It focuses on the “target audience”.
2. It lets the reader know WHAT'S IN IT FOR THEM! And if that person is part of his or her “target audience” they will want to read more. In fact, they will saying to themselves “Yes, that's me! I want that! Tell me more!”

Conclusion: Lessons Learned

Now what lessons can a modern day marketer get from all this? Simple…

Find out what a person wants
and then
Start with the benefits (not features) of what you have to offer.  Show them how using your product or service can get them what they want.

We will dive into more details of those two things in future blog posts. But starting your next post or marketing piece with the benefits like this will weed out the people you don’t want and have the people who do want your benefits salivating for more!

So for now, ask yourself “What would I change in my ________ by leading with the benefits?” Consider that with your next:

• blog post,
• facebook ad,
• phone conversation with a prospect,
• or your next video.

So what do you think? What could you change by leading with the benefits? Let us know in the comments below!