The Five Step Formula to
Creating
Your Marketing Message
By David
Frey
As I was visiting with a
friend of mine in the funeral business not long ago I asked him what
his marketing message was and he replied, "We sell peace of
mind." I said, "Yes, but explain to me what your message is
to your prospects. What do you say in your brochures and
advertising?" He had a puzzled look on his face as if I was from
another planet.
This is not uncommon.
Most small businesses are confused about their marketing message. Some
think it’s their slogan and others think it’s a regurgitation of
all their awards and how long they’ve been in business. Still others
think it’s their vision and mission statement or their company
slogan. It’s none of the above.
The Key to Creating a
Winning Marketing Message
Your marketing message is what grabs your prospect’s attention, tells
them how you can solve their problem, why they should trust you, and why
they should choose to do business with you over and above any and all
other choices they might have.
Your marketing message
should "speak" to your prospect. This is done by appealing
to your prospect’s "hot buttons" or those sensitivities
that trigger an emotional reaction. The following is a simple
five-step method for creating your marketing message.
5 Steps to Creating
Your Marketing Message
STEP 1 - Identify
your target market.
The first step starts out by asking, "Who is my target
market?" Once you have narrowed this down then it’s easier to
craft a message to that market.
Every successful
business has a target market whether they know it or not. Even the
local dry cleaner has a target market, which is probably all the
professional people living within a five mile radius of their store.
STEP 2 - Identify the
problems that your target market experiences.
The second step starts by asking, "What problems do my target
market have and how does it make them feel?"
Each market experiences
its frustrations and pains. The secret to crafting a marketing message
that will make your market sit up and listen is to identify their
problem and the pain and suffering they feel as a result of that
problem.
Remember the old saying
that goes, "People don’t care about you, until they know you
care." Identifying your market’s pain and suffering tells them
that you understand and empathize with them.
STEP 3 - Present your
solution to your market’s problem.
The third step starts by asking, "What is the solution that I
have to offer my prospect?
Present your solution as
a simple cure for all the pain and suffering your market is feeling as
a result of their problem. This step is important in that most people
won’t lift a finger unless they feel an urgent excruciating pain.
Now, identify all the
benefits of your solution and how those benefits will improve the life
of your prospect and take away all their pain and anguish.
STEP 4 - Present the
results you’ve produced for other people in the same situation.
The fourth step starts by asking, "What are the results that my
solution has produced?"
It’s not enough just
to tell people you have a solution; you have to prove to them that
your solution works. And you can talk all day about how you solved
this and that problem, but people are skeptical and don’t
automatically believe you.
People will believe
other people who are similar to them that have achieved positive
results. In this step you’ll need to prove your results by giving
testimonials from current and former customers and provide case
studies of actual problems that were solved and the results that were
achieved.
STEP 5 - Explain what
makes you different from your competitors.
The fifth step starts by asking, "How am I different from my
competitors?"
You need to communicate
your differences!
Prospects are looking for you to
communicate your differences. And those differences need to have
perceived value to the prospect. It needs to be something they care
about.
The Big Marketing Message Mistake
The biggest marketing message mistake that companies make is
communicating "What-We-Do" instead of
"What’s-In-It-For-Me." If these were two radio channels
(i.e. WWD vs. WIIFM), which one do you think your prospect would
rather hear?
While you are transmitting on WWD,
your prospect is looking for the WIIFM station. In order for your
message to match your market you need to be broadcasting on WIIFM.
Conclusion
In this article I’ve shared with a simple formula for creating an
effective marketing message. Your marketing message should be used in
all your external communications. It starts with knowing the wants,
fears, problems, and needs of your target market and ends by crafting
a message that speaks to those problems in a compelling and believable
way. The result is an irresistible message that makes your prospect
want to know more.
-------------------------------------------------------
David
Frey is the Senior Editor of the Marketing Best
Practices Newsletter, a free publication that includes
marketing best practices for small and medium-sized businesses. http://www.MarketingBestPractices.com
and author of
the best-selling The
Small Business Marketing Bible
Free
e-book download:
Learn the six deadliest mistakes most small business owners make,
"Six Deadly Small Business Marketing Mistakes"
by David Frey. Strongly recommended reading! Click here
to download.
|
