Around here, August is back-to-school month. Summer is over. Back to work.
If you’re in one of those “purist” areas where the school bell doesn’t ring until after Labor Day, say hello to my wistful childhood memories, would ya?
In the back-to-school spirit for “Think About it Thursday,” we’re getting back to basics on the Savvy Blog.
“I’m so overwhelmed, and there’s so much to do,” she said. “Where would you start?”
My day started with a marketing conversation over coffee. The professional across the table from me was beginning the arduous task of re-branding a company.
From “Alice in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll
“Don’t do a thing until you know who you want to reach,” I said. “It’s much easier to redraw a line than it is to rebuild a wall.”
Too many times, business owners charge headlong into marketing with the idea that branding is telling the world about their company to impress people into buying. We’ll get a logo, tack on a pithy marketing slogan, and litter the digital (and actual) landscape with “Me-Formation.”
“Me-Formation” resembles information, except it’s focus is firmly set on “me.”
And therein lies the problem.
“You” – as a prospective customer – don’t yet care about “me,” the marketer/brand/company. “You” only care about your agenda and want to know if you can rely on “me” to do one, two or three things:
Save You Money
Save You Time
Solve Your Problem
The basics of marketing begin neither with your USP (unique selling proposition) nor your superlatives, superpowers or super-sized discounts. The foundation for your marketing lies in understanding your customer.
What is your customer’s goal or aspiration?
What or who stands in the way?
How big are the stakes if the goal cannot be attained?
“Do not pass Go” until you know these answers and can communicate them with power and passion – and most importantly – in words your customers use to describe their situation. Don’t know what those words are? Have more conversations with your customers and prospects and pay attention to their language as they describe their problems.
The number of Tweets, Likes, Followers, Opens, Clicks and Visits (or a myriad of other metrics you choose) don’t mean a thing when your message isn’t positioned correctly. It just means more people see your marketing and pass over you, because you’ve failed to engage them over the problem that is motivating them to seek you.
Once you’ve demonstrated that you have a good grasp of their problem, then they’ll be interested to know how you can become part of their solution. Now you’ve earned the opportunity to do a little bit of “me-formation.”
