• 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

1)  You must know the area around your puddles.  Look for any potential obstacles that might cause a problem and any props that could make puddle jumping even better.

2)  You must know what is floating in the puddles.  Let’s face it, we’ve all seen the neighbor boys taking turns throwing whatever they can get their hands on into puddles or the stray dog from around the way relieving itself in a puddle.  You don’t want to be splashing through a puddle that Rover just warmed up, now do you?

3)  It’s all about the distance.  What do I mean?  Well, some of the most experienced puddle jumpers in the world can thoroughly soak all onlookers within a 4 foot radius!  Now that is some distance.

4)   The deeper the puddle, the more fun!  I mean seriously, would you rather jump in a piddly puddle that barely wets the tread of your sneaker or would you rather feel the water sinking up and over and into your socks?

Now what is all of this talk of puddles and what does it have to do with marketing?

Pretend each of your clients is a puddle.

1) Now, tell me about the immediate area around that “puddle.”  Are there any obstacles that you can see that may hinder the relationship you have with your client?  Maybe they just lost their job and they are going to have to cut back.  Will you be the service they cut back on?  What about props that may help you with the relationship?  Maybe they just had a baby and it just so happens that you have a new product out that is perfect for new parents.

2)  Now tell me what could potentially be floating in your puddle.  This is all the crap…all the baggage that may make them a bad client to have.  Maybe it is that they don’t pay their bills on time.  Maybe it is that they can never make a deadline.  Or maybe they are like Nelli from Little House on the Prairie and just plain annoying.  Whatever it is, be sure to examine your puddle carefully to make sure there aren’t any floaters.

3)  What kind of distance can you get from your puddle?  Is this client going to be a long term relationship or a one shot wonder?  We all know that it is tempting to just go for the quick sale and move on, but wouldn’t you much rather have a client that comes in for all of the accessories?  I mean seriously, how many applications can one person have on their iPhone?!  But isn’t that what you want from your customer?  You want them to not make just one purchase, but to continue to come back to you for all of the upgrades and add-ons that you could possibly dream up, just because they are available.

4)  So how deep is that puddle?  This is where we get into the psychology behind your client.  Why do they buy or not buy?  When do they feel like buying more?  What do they feel like when they buy?  This in and of itself is an entire semester’s worth of courses.  But this is where the gold is.  If you can really truly fine tune the psyche of your client then you can design your entire business around it and go to the bank all day.

Once you’ve examined all of these areas of your puddle you are ready to go puddle jumping.  But don’t forget your galoshes!

Without thinking she threw her cup of water at me.  Now the funny thing is that she didn’t think there was any water in the cup, and to be honest there really wasn’t that much water in it, and yet SHE was the most surprised and embarrassed.

Now why do I bring this story up?  Quite frankly because often times we are in S=R mode.  Stimulus = Response.  Many times we don’t think about our behavior before we react.  This includes things we say, feel, think or do.

In this case I made a funny and harmless comment that the women thought irritating and she threw a bit of water on me.  To be honest I was only mildly irritated at her but not really upset since the water was small, it didn’t hurt my clothing, and nobody else was around.  And like I wrote above I could tell she was embarrassed more than anyone else, and besides it wasn’t really a lot of water.  But the interesting thing is what happened the next time I saw her.

The next time I saw her she had a written apology’ greeting card and in it a gift certificate to a restaurant.  I tried not to accept the gift telling her I thought it was funny, but she insisted I take the gift.  What does this demonstrate here?  I think it demonstrates reciprocity.  In other words this lady felt guilty for what she did so she had to make amends.  Now of course I am not talking about the apology, I am talking about the ‘gift’ with the apology.

There is a lot you can learn from this but if nothing else remember this one thing.  Often times people, you and me both, your prospects, clients, vendors and “the world” are in stimulus=response mode.  We see the sweet desserts or food on television=our mouth waters.  Or we smell the food=our mouth waters.  We hear the theme song=our heart beats.  We see the silhouette…you get the idea.

Slowing ourselves down and removing ourselves from “the moment” can sometimes be very powerful.  If you can just stop and examine what is going on around you, often times you can see things you never would have seen before.  This is especially useful in sales situations.  See what is being done to you and you can gain a different, and many times, better perspective.

Oh, and if you haven’t already, I suggest you subscribe to our free strategic marketing newsletter.  It will give you tips, tricks, ideas, strategies, and more that you can instantly implement in any business.   To sign up just click on Subscribe below.

-Matt

A good analogy is charades or humming.  Pick a song and then try humming it to a friend.  Sometimes the person can pick it up quickly, and sometimes the person can’t.  Unless you’re humming a song so obvious like the Star Spangled Banner or Happy Birthday people generally struggle.  The same thing can be done with charades.  Sometimes people can tell what you are doing instantly, but often times it takes a bit of work.

Your marketing message needs to communicate and not speak in generalities or buzz words that involve tons of platitudes.  It needs to be very clear.  It needs to be specific, and it needs to “feel right.”  That way when someone sees your message they say (or think) to themselves, “that’s for me!”  Picture a dog whistle when a dog hears it, the dog’s ears instantly perk up.

Why do I bring this up?  Because in your business you have to bridge the gap.  The gap of what you really do and what people think you do. I run into this challenge all the time.

Ask someone what they do and they ramble on for a minute or two and the prospect still can’t explain what he or she just heard.  Then they wonder why nobody buys their product or service — just like the person who is humming the song or doing the charades gets frustrated because the person can’t understand the message he or she is trying to get across.

Does this make sense?  You have got to get the message across clearly.  And even more clearly now than ever before due to more and more information that is being produced on a daily basis.

Yes, YOU (the person who is humming or doing the charades) knows what the message or song you are trying to get across is, but the other person doesn’t.  And how often have you ran out of time in charades and the other person said something like, “Why didn’t you just make this motion.  It would have been soooo obvious.”  And then you think, “dang they are right!”

In other words, it is your fault if you don’t communicate the message correctly, not the prospects.

Now, try to guess this song…

-Matt

My guess is that within seconds you can probably start to hum some famous songs. Jaws? Star Wars? Superman? Do you get the idea?

Your business needs to keep this in mind. How so? Everything is engineered and designed by purpose for a movie. The soundtrack is carefully chosen, the costumes and wardrobe, the lighting, etc. But lets just focus on the soundtrack.

What “soundtrack” can you use in your business? Perhaps it is a television with a certain news show on in the lobby, perhaps it is background music, perhaps it is a “soundtrack” for a DVD or CD you utilize. Perhaps it is the phone recording on your voice mail or “phone tree.”

How do you focus on this? You need to determine which music sounds and audio create what type of moods are best for your business situation. What do I mean? Well, if you are a car dealership certainly you need different music is appropriate for you versus a financial planner’s office. And at the car dealership the type of cars you are selling and the type of buyers is also different. Someone buying a Buick (do they still exist?) is different than someone buying a Nissan. Does this make sense?

And then after you determine the market what is the action you are wanting them to do. Are you wanting someone to buy something? Are you wanting them to sell something to you? Are you wanting them to refer business to you?

Can each of these things make a difference? Absolutely.

To prove my point lets do a quick experiment. Now granted, sometimes the case is the opposite but generally the lack of music doesn’t create the drama.

Do you get my point?

So, make sure to utilize every type of psychological viewpoint you can.

And be careful when you swim in the ocean. I know I always am!

-Matt

Now let’s take a step back and examine why referrals are sometimes the easiest to close.

I think it is because of several main things.

1) Someone recommended you
2) That someone wasn’t you
2) That someone had some level of credibility with another person
4) The person “was looking” or had a need to begin with.

Lets analyze these a bit closer.

1) Someone recommended you – 3rd party endorsement or “social proof”
2) That someone wasn’t you – once again, we tend to doubt people and what they say themselves, but if other people say it (who have nothing to gain) we tend to trust them more.
3) Once again, social proof, and perhaps some authority is involved – the higher the credibility and belief you have of the other person and his or her level of intelligence the more authority they have.
4) NEED – some type of pain was present or identified.

What is the most important thing out of all of these things. Well, I think it is #4. Why? Because no matter how respected so and so is (the person who refers you) if the person being referred isn’t interested or doesn’t perceive a need then the others above don’t really matter.

If someone tells me I need to get my carpets cleaned — that there is the best carpet cleaning company in the state – and that they do a good job — and I really don’t think I need my carpets cleaned – none of that matters. Because the need is not there. Sure, occasionally someone has so much influence that even though someone does not think they need it they will still do as the referrer recommends out of respect, but if #4 is not there, then you have problems.

But, if I think my carpets need cleaned to begin with then #’s 1-3 from above, all can come into play of whom I choose.

So, I think #4 trumps everything. How does this apply to you and your business?

Let me explain.

In proper marketing you are attracting people to your business. Like bees to honey. People know they have a need, then they FIND you. Now don’t lose me here. Most people get this. But then where they screw it up is NOT using #’s 1-2-3 from above to accentuate their marketing. How can this be accomplished?

Case studies. Proof. Testimonials. These can be used to build credibility.

In tomorrow’s post I’ll go more into detail with some examples and the also talk more about #4. I’ll explain why most “marketing” is poor, what it does and doesn’t do, and how you can market properly to attract people to your business.

But ask yourself this. Isn’t it easier to have people coming to you who are presorted and ready to hear what you have to say? It is certainly a lot easier than cold-calling, or even networking.

In the meantime, feel free to subscribe to RSS, send some people this way, or email me some honey (boy I wish we had that attachment system in email ) ….oh…and I’ll have the main site setup soon.

-Matt

What is it? HALT. It is an acronym for hungry, angry, lonely, and tired. Now, what does this have to do with your marketing in your business? Well, people are normally put in a poor mood or a less receptive mood – or sometimes an increased mood to your marketing messages — depending on what you are selling. I would also add, ‘hot’ to the acronym.

You see, when someone is in a state of being hungry, angry, lonely, tired (or hot) then they are emotionally more apt to do certain behavior. This is why, from my understanding, AA (alcoholic’s anonymous) tells people to get assistance when they get into one of these moods–because in that case they are more likely to drink because of the negative state of mind and emotions he or she is in. Does this make sense? If you are lonely you are more likely, in general, to turn to alcohol — which is certainly bad for alcoholics.

Now let me ask you this. Are you taking this into account in your business? Are your customers or prospects generally preconditioned to be in one of these frames of mind before you are marketing or selling to them? And, if so, how can you overcome these negative conditions up front. How you pre-position yourself, your company, or your messages is certainly important.

I’d like you to do something very important, if you can. Do some self-monitoring on your mood. I find when I myself am hungry, angry, lonely, or tired my mood shifts and I tend to look at things differently. I believe almost every person is like this. It is “wired” into us. Our chemicals in our brains and bodies shift, and we become more resistant or open to certain ideas and things.

Want an interesting fact? The murder rate goes up when more ice cream is sold. Yup, ice cream equals more murders. Actually, it doesn’t. There is no cause and effect there. What actually happens is that in the summer it is hotter than in the winter, so people have shorter tempers and are more likely to explode in anger. That is one factor, and I imagine also that people are put into situations to where there is more violence. So ice cream sold doesn’t affect more murders, it is just more ice cream is sold in summer when it is hot, instead of when it is cold.

So what can you take from this? Pay attention to what is influencing your customer’s or prospects. Colors, shapes, temperatures, music, sound effects etc. There is a reason why movies spend a lot of money on the soundtrack to accompany the movie. It’s because without that soundtrack the movie, generally, would be a whole lot less stimulating.

Just one little nuance sometimes can throw off your customer’s minds from buying your product or service. And, here’s the thing. And lots of times great businesses are built upon shifting the customers emotions to a desired state.

Disney provides imagination, joy, and excitement.
FedEx provides relief from anxiety
McDonald’s (yes, McDonald’s) provides instant gratification and consitency
Staples has tried to produce, “That was easy.”

So stop, analyze your current customers, and figure out the moods people are put in before they come to your business. If you are a mechanic it will be sometimes fear of being ripped off (especially for women.) If you are an attorney it might be intimidation. The same goes for accountants, at times.

And remember, monitor yourself when you are hot, hungry, angry, lonely, or tired. See how this effects you. Because if it effecting you — it is probably effecting your customers too.

-Matt