Envisioning Success

Make Sure Your Marketing Message is Crystal Clear.

Posted by Chris Shockley under Marketing

As we know, we are all marketers who happen to provide this service or that product. But are you getting your message across clearly in every format you have to convey it?

When you exchange business cards with someone and they ask, “What do you do?”, are you able to, quickly and clearly explain the benefits of what you offer? How about when you have thirty seconds at a networking meeting, like one of the ones I attend? For you it could be a minute or even five minutes. It might be your direct mailer or a sales letter.

There have been a number of times that, while networking (building those relationships) someone else comes up to me, that I have had as a customer, and says thanks for something I did and the other person I am speaking with says, “Oh, you do “x”"? Obviously my thirty second spiel is not hitting home, because I know I’ve said everything I do.

What’s the problem?

It could be that this individual was distracted and the time is so short that they just missed it. Maybe. Could it be that I was trying to cram too much in? I have a multi-facetted offering so trying to get it all out means I gotta talk fast. Too fast most likely. Whatever is was, the problem is that I was being tuned out. This goes for your direct mailer piece as well. People will toss it if they don’t know immediately the benefit you offer. They may toss it anyway (if they don’t need/want what you offer, but that is a far better reason to hit the round file). The problem is not with the audience, the problem is that I did not communicate well.

What’s the solution?

Is more time the answer? I just need to be able to get my message out there completely and everyone would have better understood what I can do to help their business succeed? I’m not sure time is really the problem, I think the issue is one of the message being communicated. If the message is not very clear it gets ignored, forgotten, overlooked.

To keep this from happening to you, make sure you can clearly and quickly explain yourself (your benefits).  Practice it until you can say it succinctly. It’s important to be able to get your message out quickly when you need to. When you have more time, you can go into greater detail but you won’t be given that opportunity if the first few moments are not compelling. You have to get it across even if you only have a few moments to do so.

Remember, it’s not necessarily important to explain everything you do every time you talk anyway, especially when attending a regular networking event/meeting or sending out a series of direct mailers. Focus on pieces of what you do and define the benefits (Why they should pay attention). Each time/mailer focus on another piece of your offering or use a carefully laid out series to go through a more full explanation. And this next sentence is critical. It is better to  communicate the key benefit you offer; that which that makes you different from the competition.

This message should be the core of all your marketing efforts.

There are plenty of people who do what you do, why should they sign on the dotted line (whether is simply be paying you for a product, or entering into a contract)?

I run into this constantly in my industry. There are plenty of talented people and firms out there, so why should someone have me build and/or manage their website? Well, I need the money. More than that, I believe I offer a different take on websites. I believe in working with clients to use their site as the hub of their marketing efforts and that by focusing on the fact that I view a website as a business tool, not an art project, will help them be more successful than simply having a great looking site or having some do-it-yourself site that takes their time away from their core competency or their personal time. I believe that I have a lot to offer clients that allows them to focus on other things.

So how do I sum that up? Well, maybe I talk about taking care of everything (so they can focus on what they do that makes them money). Maybe it’s about getting them more customers (than they could otherwise). You see, while “everything I do” is too hard to lay out quickly, summarizing it so that a business owner can understand immediately makes a big difference in whether or not I am allowed to continue working with/marketing myself to them. What I am shooting for is not the direct sale, but the opportunity to speak more fully to their specific needs. You can’t do that in thirty seconds, but if you can use that compressed timeline to get a longer meeting, or a phone call, or a visit to the special offer on your website that you offered in your direct mailer, you’ve succeeded.

Summing up

So, I hope that you understand that having a crystal clear marketing message is about getting to the next stage. It’s not a going to be a direct sale. Treat it like meeting someone and you want to ask them out on a date. You don’t lead off with “Will you marry me” do you? You just want to go out for drinks, coffee, dinner.

From a practical viewpoint, you want the direct mail recipient to go to your site. You want those that  visit your site to contact you or to sign up for your newsletter or enter the drawing. At networking events, you want to get together over coffee.

Remember, your marketing should be first and foremost about developing relationships, especially with those you’ve never met. If you can get to the next stage again and again, you will get to the sale. If you cannot get from one stage to the next it won’t happen.

A clear message will get the ball rolling, after that, well,  it’s still up to you.

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Chris Shockley is owner of Envision Design Solutions and has been building websites for over 12 years. He can be reached via the web: http://www.EnvisionDesignSolutions.com/