These 3 things will change everything.
As I work with businesses who advertise in our magazines, I often have to help them first figure out what it is they want to say about their product or service. They know they need to promote their businesses but they haven’t stopped to really develop a clear marketing message — one that resonates with their ideal customer.
So, I first ask them this question:
What are the 3 things you want the prospective customer to know about your business?
In other words, what will make an impact on the customer\’s life and why should they choose your product or service for that purpose?
For example:
Is your product unique? How so?
Are you the most knowledgeable company in the area for that product or service?
How can you be sure?
Why does your passion for your product or service matter to the customer?
It’s also critical to always think about your marketing message (and your product or service for that matter) from the customer’s point of view. Ask yourself this question over and over: Why should they care?
Why should the person care that your business is family owned?
Why should they care that you have been in business for 25 years?
At the end of the day, you are competing for the customer’s attention among a very crowded marketplace, noisy social media channels and the busy schedules of the entire population!
Take a moment and jot down some ideas for the 3 things you want a potential customer to walk away knowing about your business? Now share them with your business partners and employees to get their input.
Continue to develop the points while asking yourself “Why should the potential customer care about these three things?
Have you written your three things with your customer’s point of view in mind?
Have you put yourself in their shoes to realize what 3 things matter most to them?
If you can clearly express just 3 things you do better or differently from competitors and you do so from the customer’s perspective, you will have a winning marketing campaign every time.
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Jan Southern, DPA is the owner of J. DelSUR Marketing Group and publisher of Pooler Magazine and Effingham Magazine in southeast Georgia. She is a marketing and communications professional with more than 32 years experience, 16 of which have been in leading marketing initiatives for major universities in the U.S. Her experience includes marketing, brand development, design, publishing and strategic communications for public organizations and private sector clients in the healthcare, technology, lifestyle, giftware, publishing, automotive and other industries.
