Recently I wrote a post about the value of understanding your why. The main premise of this blog being that many people don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it.
Knowing your ‘why’ is especially important in this age of marketing overload, where consumers are carpet-bombed with content, images, videos, tweets and posts. In fact, a recent Microsoft study found that our attention span is down to eight seconds – which is less than a goldfish!
So, what’s the point of this nonsense? Once you’ve worked out why people are buying from you, it’s time to focus on the other three components of your messaging – the “who”, “what” and “how”.
WHO are you targeting?
The who – and I’m not talking about the classic rock band led by Roger Daltry and Pete Townshend – is focused on your ideal client. This might sound facile but we often find that determining an ideal client is a challenge. For instance, suggesting your model client is “a young executive looking for financial advice” is nebulous. It is too broad, and is a classic example of what some marketers refer to as targeting “anyone with a pulse”.
Rather, you need to take a more focused approach. For example, maybe your ideal client is a young executive couple with a double income of over $300,000 combined, living in an inner city suburb. Do they have pre-existing investments? The more targeted your focus, the more likely you are to develop a message that resonates with them.
What value do you offer?
Don’t think about what you offer, consider the value or outcomes you can deliver to a client. In other words, what value do they derive from your services? And forget the bleeding obvious – “they get good financial advice on a range of financial options”.
The most valuable outcome from financial advice is the ability for clients to achieve lifestyle goals. Focusing on value provides your messaging with the client angle it needs.
How are you different?
Standing out from the pack is a major objective of any marketing strategy – and it’s important that you can prove it. If you make a claim, for example, that your service “outperforms industry benchmarks”, can you substantiate it? Or, if you say that you have an over 99 per cent client satisfaction rating, can you independently validate it?
At the same time, you need make sure your point of difference matters – there’s no point being unique if it’s irrelevant.
My colleagues have built a methodology to help small businesses determine the “who”, “what” and “where” of their offerings. They call it a 10-point plan for developing meaningful client engagement and you can email them for a free copy. This methodology gives you a starting point (often the hardest thing in sales and marketing!) to develop your marketing messaging in a way that will have impact with your clients.
