Have you ever had a sneaking suspicion that your marketing efforts were no better than the TV pitchman's approach?

"It slices! It dices! It even washes the dog!"

Like the pitchman, you might think that if you tell everyone what your offering does and why it's better, and if you just say it louder and more often, eventually someone will notice and make a purchase. With a crowded marketplace you can be forgiven for feeling like that's your only option.

The key to overcoming the pitchman trap, developing powerful marketing and cutting through the noise is to market your offering based on its value to your customers.

What is value?

Value is one of the most used and oft misunderstood terms in marketing.

When I hear people misusing the term value it's in the context of features and benefits. I'll ask a client what value they think their product offers. They quickly respond with a list of features and benefits; things they think are great about their product or service.

So, how do we define value? If it is not about features and benefits, what is value all about? The key to value lies in end-benefit.

End-benefits are the customer-experienced benefits that result in the use of your offering. They are different than benefits because they speak to what the customer got out of your product or service. End-benefits define value.

The following table is a simplified illustration of how features, benefits and end-benefits work.

Features, benefits and end-benefits of a lawn tractor

An example of value in advertising

To see great examples of value-based marketing at play look at auto manufacturers. They might mention some features and benefits in their ads, but they are always selling value. This ad from Audi is a great example. See if you can discern the value or values they are selling as you watch.

Audi says nothing about cylinders, top speed or price—the whole ad is about being freed from an evil spell, not following the crowd and not settling for what everyone else mistakenly thinks is correct. We could infer that the value Audi is selling is the driver's ability to break free of a sense of servitude and from the expectations of their peer group; drive our car and be free of the herd, be an individual, think for yourself. It's pretty powerful, especially if you drive a BMW, Mercedes or Lexus.

How to discover value

How do you discover the end-benefits and ultimately the value of your offering? There really is only one thing you have to do, but many ways to do it. You have to go to your customers. You have to engage, observe and listen to the people who use your offering. There's really no other way to get truly get at value.

As you engage your customers and observe them using your product and listen to their feedback you'll start to gain a whole new level of understanding around your offering and what it means to them. You might hear things you don't want to hear, but that's good because it will help you make it better. You might also hear wonderfully surprising things, informing you that your offering is valuable in ways you never thought of.

You can engage your customers and prospects in a number of ways:

• Voice of the customer research
• Ethnographic research
• Focus groups
• Informal meetings with customers
• Anecdotal information from your sales team

There are plenty of resources that provide more information on things like conducting voice of the customer or ethnographic research. The key is to make sure you engage your customers. It's impossible to really know what your customer's value without interacting with them.

Make it happen

If you want your marketing efforts to cut through the noise and deliver results you've got to be willing to move away from features and benefits marketing and start marketing value. Value will capture your target's attention and create immediate interest because it helps your target understand quickly how your offering will make their life better.

Talk to your customers, discover your offering's true value and put that value to work for you.