How Do You Focus Your Marketing?

camera lens imageYou’re trying to promote your business.  You want to tell everyone about the great service you offer, your years in business, and your products.

You know this is a mistake, but how do you promote yourself without talking about your service or your quality or your price?

It’s about the lawn, not the grass seed

Why do people buy grass seed? To get a beautiful lawn. You won’t get business by touting years of hybridization to develop your special seed.  You will get business if you offer a solution. Ordinary lawns have to be mowed regularly.  It’s time consuming and hard work.  What if you had a seed that only grew two inches high (then stopped).  Now, a lawn that never needs mowing!  You’d clean up.

Sell holes, not drills

People buy drills because they want to make holes.  The drill is just the means to get the hole. People who buy exhibits don’t really want banners, booths, and brochure stands.  What they really want is to get more visitors at trade shows, more leads, and more customers.  Use your secret identity to figure out what you’re really selling.

Cure your customers’ headaches

What do people hate about exhibits? They’re expensive, it costs a lot to ship them, and it’s hard to dispose of them when they wear out.  Explain why yours are different.  They’re 22% lighter (and cost less to ship), they’re recyclable, or your customers get 36% more leads (include the testimonials to prove it).

Talk about the results (the lawn that never needs mowing) instead of the grass seed (the product).

Not sure where your marketing is focused?  Take the one-minute marketing test and find out.

Photo:  squeaky marmot

What Did You Want to Sell Me?

David Meerman Scott pointed out this video:

Before you start selling, you’ve got to build up credibility. You’ve got to answer the questions swirling around in your prospect’s mind:

Who are you?
Why should I believe you?
What are you giving me?
Why should I care?

If you want to break into a new market or start selling new products, you’ll have to establish trust first. Emailing people you don’t know, or producing four-color media kits (printed or electronic) won’t get you in the door. Neither will spewing way too much information about your eating habits on Twitter. Don’t assume everyone (the press, the public, your potential customers) are sitting around waiting anxiously for your call. They don’t want “you”, what they do want is a relationship with someone they trust to solve their problems.