The Marketing Guy.
By: Craig Valine
craig@biznetonline.com
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The Marketing Guy. |
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DOES YOUR BUSINESS FOCUS ON ITSELF, OR ON YOUR PROSPECTS’ AND CUSTOMERS’ NEEDS?
I know this seems obvious. But, just take a look through your yellow pages. Pick one of them up right now and glance through. And then, answer methese questions::
Do most of the ads tell you what benefits you’ll get if you become a customer? Or are the ads telling you about how many years they’ve been in business, where they are, how wonderful they are, what they do, how great their quality is, how great their service is, and all about them?
Ninety-five percent of the ads are totally focused on the business and not on what the business can do for YOU, the prospect!
Take a look at the ads in the newspapers, on the TV, and listen to the radio. You’ll find the same thing happening there, consistently, every day. This type of selfish advertising falls into the terribly wasteful category of "institutional advertising."
Institutional advertising at its best is good for "name recognition," or "image" advertising. But not always. But its worst, this kind of advertising accomplishes no profitable purpose whatsoever. Unless the business has very "deep pockets" and can afford to wait a long time for the "payoff", institutional advertising is a wasteful, ineffective expense.
You know when it’s institutional advertising because institutional advertising is geared toward telling you just how great a company is, or how venerable and stable they are. Or, they’re there just to entertain you, hoping you’ll get a happy feeling when you see their advertisement. Perhaps businesses such as large banks can do this.....,but
it just doesn’t work for most small and medium sized businesses. Fancy, cutesy, and non-compelling frivolity is another sin of much of today’s advertising, and much of it can also be classified as "institutional."
Your selfishness will kill your marketing. From brochures to flyers, and sales letters to advertisements, your marketing message should let your prospects know that you are concerned WITH ONLY WHAT THEY WANT!
Anything about you should always come last. Your clients, customers, patrons, patients whatever you choose to call them, should always come first.
Any marketing documents you create should start out by focusing on the prospects’ wants. Every sentence should show that you understand the prospects’ wants.
Until your marketing efforts focus on the prospects wants, your marketing is doomed for mediocrity.
REMEMBER THIS MARKETING PHILOSOPHY: IT’S ALL ABOUT THE CUSTOMER. IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU!
Next month, we’ll talk more about "Testing All Of Your Marketing Communications."
If you would like to know more about how to market your business effectively, e-mail the "Marketing Guy" at marketingguy@biznetonline.com