Is Your Marketing
Message Holding You Back?
-- by Charlie Cook, http://www.charliecook.net
-- http://www.redtienda.com/english/newsletter64.htm#1Your marketing
message is like a key. If you've got the right
one, it will help you unlock doors to new
business and start the process of converting them
to clients. If you've got one that is the wrong
size or poorly crafted you'll be locked out in
the cold, wondering why your business isn't
growing faster.
Unfortunately
too many independent professionals and small
business owners market with messages that just
don't work. They may be too long, too short, too
common, too dull, or too self laudatory. The
result is they don't open enough doors to new
business.
Your
marketing message, elevator speech, unique
selling proposition, value positioning statement
or whatever you call it needs to describe what
you do and the problems you solve in one or two
sentences. This may seem like a small part of
your marketing effort, but in fact it is one of
the most important elements and costs the least
to fix.
If your
marketing message helps prospects understand how
you can help them, you are in business. If it
doesn't then you'll never reach your revenue
potential.
Too Long
or Too Short
When asked what they do, most people either come
up with a short label, or a long-winded
description. You may tell people you are a
lawyer, a therapist, in sales, a management
consultant or a systems analyst. The problem with
labels is that they don't really tell your
prospects anything about what you do or how you
can help them.
Regardless
of your specific capabilities, when you use a
label to describe yourself, people tend to assign
a stereotype, based on opinions and assumptions.
Say lawyer and people may shy away, say banker
and people think boring, say therapist and people
think of shrinks, say management consultant and
people have no clue what you do.
Your
marketing message should help you distinguish
yourself and your unique capabilities. Use a
label and you'll be assigned to a category which
may or may not be favorable to you, and won't
help your prospects understand the value of your
services.
Some
people try to avoid using a label by launching
into a monologue listing their services and
credentials. One management consultant I met,
when asked what he did, said he would be happy to
explain, but he'd need at least a half hour. Get
and keep people's attention, start a conversation
with a marketing message that rolls quickly off
your tongue or the page.
Most
people, your prospects included, scan verbal and
visual content searching for relevant information
that will help them solve a problem or meet a
need. If your marketing message is too general or
takes too long to hear or read, you are history.
Your prospects won't take the time to find out
that you may really have the perfect product or
service for their needs.
Take a
look at your marketing materials or your web
page.
- Are you doing the same thing as the management
consultant above?
- Are you
spending valuable time and space describing
services and credentials when you could be
leading with a succinct marketing message that
actually explains the problems you solve?
- Or do
you let yourself get stereotyped with a label?
USE A
BRILLIANT MARKETING MESSAGE
Whether you are talking to someone in person or
in your marketing materials, your objective is to
engage them, to get them thinking about their
needs and wants. Do this successfully and they'll
soon be wondering how they can't live without
your products or services.
Your
marketing message should be the catalyst to
conversation. When you use it a connection should
be made between your services and your prospect's
needs. If you had a brilliant marketing message
that resonated with your prospects wants and
needs you'd have more and more qualified
prospects contacting you and more and more
business.
Does your
current marketing message:
- Tell people what you do?
- Start a conversation?
- Create a perception of need?
My
marketing message is, "helping small
business owners attract more clients and be more
successful". When I use it I get one of two
responses. If I'm talking to someone who isn't a
small business owner, they usually want to know
how I do what I do. If the person is a small
business owner they want to learn how I can help
them and I'm on my way to converting a prospect
into a client.
If you
want to attract more prospects and grow your
business, the first step is to create a brilliant
marketing message, one you can use in the
elevator, on your business card, on your web site
and in your voice mail message.
It is not
easy to describe all you do in a sentence or two.
Capture the essence of who you serve, the
problems you solve and the solutions you provide
and you'll have a brilliant marketing message.
Don't let
your current marketing message hold you back.
Make sure you have one that works as a key to
attracting attention, engaging prospects and
opening the door to new business.
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