It does no good to know that your target is a male executive in his 40s that enjoys playing golf, eating expensive steak dinners, and traveling if you are spending all of your time and energy putting ads in the local Val-Pak.  That’s not to say that Val-Pak can’t be a valuable marketing tool…but not for the specific target we mentioned above.

Why?  Most male executives in their 40s are not perusing Val-Pak for coupons on their steak dinners.

So what would be a better alternative?  Well, honestly it depends on your product or service.  If it is business related then perhaps a good medium to use would be publications that target c-level executives such as CFO magazine.  If is it not business related then perhaps a more upscale mailing that targets the top 1000 homes in a zip code.  Or perhaps you should rent your own list (infousa.com or referenceusa.com) of those who subscribe to both CFO magazine and Golf Digest and mail a postcard or letter to them.

The key here, as always, is creating a match between your message, your market, and your media.  All 3 hinge on each other and if one is off, you will not land your sale.  As my brilliant husband likes to say, “It doesn’t matter how good your message and your media are, you can’t sell a BMW to a 3 year old!”

Happy Marketing!

Sarah

• Message
• Market
• Media (delivery method)

As I have mentioned before, you must have each area, much like a 3 legged stool, or else your marketing won’t stand up.  So, in other words your marketing needs to say the right thing, to the right person, in the right way.

Today, I would like to delve into the market a bit more as I have had several questions about how to craft an effective message to the right person.  So, in honor of the great band about to play the Superbowl half time show, let’s delve into “The Who” of your marketing.

Now, there are a lot of things that go into the make up of your customer database.  I can hear some of you out there right now saying, “Sarah, everyone is my potential customer.”  To those people I say to read my puddle jumping blog post and then come back.    To everyone else that understands the need for marketing to a niche, let’s start by looking at your average customer.

Your average customer is the type of person that has bought from you most.  Every business has this in some way shape or form, you just have to look at the commonalities.  Maybe all of your customers tend to play golf.  Or maybe they all are females.  There is something out there that will make your customers into a group and show you more of their mindset.  To help clients with this I take them through an exercise called, “Who Are You?”

In this exercise we ask questions about our customers such as:

1. How old are you?
2. What gender are you?
3. What education level do you have?
4. Are you married?
5. Do you have children?
6. Do you have pets?  What type of pets and how many?
7. Do you own your own home?
8. What income level are you?
9. What career are you in?
10. What type of car do you drive?
11. What is your favorite kind of restaurant?
12. What are your hobbies?
13. What side of town do you live on?

This may seem like overkill to some of you, but let’s think through this.  Would you rather attempt to craft a marketing message to simply females, or would you like to craft a message to:

• a 31 year old female
• who is married
• with 2 young children
• has a golden retriever named Lilly
• owns her own home
• lives on the north side of town
• graduated from IU (go Hoosiers!)
• with a degree in accounting
• makes greater than $40,000/year
• drives a Toyota Rav4
• loves eating Italian
• enjoys running, hiking, and reading

Do you get the point?  It is much easier to write a marketing message when you have more information about the person whom you are writing to.  Otherwise, you are merely shooting in the dark as you try to connect with the core beliefs and values of half the population.

For more on this topic, be looking for our audio series on the 3 “M’s” of marketing.

Happy Marketing!

Sarah

You sigh in frustration as you once again try to get someone who has absolutely no clue to understand the ins and outs of the widget business.  Ten minutes later Aunt Mildred politely pats your hand and says, “That’s nice, honey.”  She then trudges away, walker in hand to find the dessert table.

What happened?  Is it that Aunt Mildred is just dense and doesn’t understand anything about business?  While that may very well be the case, more than likely you just bored her stiff with all the details of the widget industry and through her boredom she became overwhelmed and didn’t understand a word you said.

Now, let’s change the scenario and the question a bit.

You walk into a networking event.  Right away Joe Salesman walks up and introduces himself.  He then asks, “So, what do you do?”

Now, before you start launching into your 10 minutes shpeel again, let’s think back to Aunt Mildred.  Aunt Mildred loves you dearly and has a reason to listen to you…but you still bored her out of her mind, so maybe we should change the approach, because no offense, but no one really cares what year your company was founded or any of that crap unless they ask.

So, back to the networking scenario…what are you going to say?

Let’s dissect it.

1) What is a common need or pain that the majority of your clients have and that you fulfill?

Now this should be fairly easy.  Just ask yourself why people need your product.  Does it get them out of debt?  Does it provide safety to their family?  What is the pain or fear that drives your customer?  When you discover that you are 9/10 of the way there.

2)  What makes you different than other companies that address the same need?

Okay, before we get into this I need to bring up one of Matt’s biggest pet peeves.  Platitudes.  A platitude is something that should be obvious or expected.  For example, almost every business out there says that they are honest and on time.  Well, I should hope so.  That is like saying, “Congratulations, you didn’t steal from me today.  That means you are a great company in my book!”  Come on!  Really?!? Do you really want your customers saying that about you?  Then don’t put it in their minds!

So, again I pose the question, “What makes you different from other companies?”  Maybe it is that you use only natural materials, that everything is hand made, or that you only use your own staff- not contractors like the rest of your type of companies.  Now, those will set you apart.  Why?  Because by saying these things you have not only stuck out in your customer or prospect’s mind, but you have made it seem as if anyone who doesn’t do it that way is wrong.  So you have set the new buying criteria.

3) Who traditionally buys your product?

This will help you in networking especially, because that person will know who you are looking for.  It will also help in the sales process, because it is a form of “social proof” which will need to be a post in and of itself.  Keep it short and sweet, maybe 1 or 2 different niches.  This will enable the prospect or referral source to remember what you are saying and won’t confuse the message.

4) Now put it all together in 30 seconds or less.

Do you like it when someone stands there and talks at you for 5 minutes?  No!  So don’t do it!  I know you are saying, but what if I am missing an opportunity to sell to this person?  I guarantee you that if you stop talking at people you will increase your sales, not decrease them.

If you just stand there and spill your guts to them for God knows how long, you have done nothing more than talked to a brick wall.  Where if you give them just a few tasty morsels of what you have to offer, they will want more, and they will walk away actually understanding what you do.