Why You Need a Focused Marketing Message to Stand Out
And how to shine like a spotlight for your customers
And shine like a spotlight for your customers
If you have many products and/or services, you may struggle to describe all the ways you can help your customers in an engaging way. There’s a reason this is often so hard and there’s a simple solution.
Two thousand ducks enter a South African vineyard and begin eating. Not a single grape is harmed.
Each morning the owners of the Vergenoegd Löw Wine Estate, just outside Cape Town, release a flock of ducks from their “duck residence”, and allow them to walk down a fenced path to the vineyard.
The ducks march in the hundreds and just keep on coming. Once on the field, they eat mosquito larvae and snails, and they defecate. By doing so, the ducks allow the vineyard to be pesticide and fertilizer-free. 2,000 ducks wouldn’t normally walk in such an orderly fashion to a single destination.
The fenced path is required to guide the ducks towards the vineyard. Similarly, our potential clients and customers require a bit of guidance to take the next step with us. They require a focused marketing message to lead them towards our products and services.
What Do I Mean by a Focused Marketing Message?
A focused marketing message is one that delivers a single specific idea. Let’s demonstrate with a few messages below.
I help a business grow. Hmmm. Kind of vague.
I help businesses get more leads. Better.
I help coaches get more leads. Even better.
I help coaches get more leads from Facebook. Much better. It’s much more specific.
With the last one, you can immediately start to visualize what the service provider will do and for whom. Your message becomes a fenced path guiding your customer to a specific target.
When You Specialize, People Are More Likely to Believe You Can Deliver
A health consultant who claims to have the secret to weight loss is easily ignored. But a provider who says she knows how to help new mothers get back to their pre-baby weight will get more attention. We wonder “what does she do differently to help new mothers?” If we’ve asked a question, they’ve got our attention.
One coach I know specializes in helping female professionals charge much higher fees for their services. When she says that, women who’ve been undercharging take notice. But so do others. Sometimes even men have approached her and said: “I think I know someone who could use your help.”
This Reveals an Extra Benefit of Being Specific
Your specific message targets just one person in your audience’s minds, so they often think of someone they know who can use your service. As a result, you get far more referrals. And what do they say to others about your business? They probably repeat the specific message you gave them. That’s much harder to do with a broad set of words.
But What if You Have Multiple Offers?
Doesn’t it make sense to say something general like “I help you generate leads” if you can do it with Facebook, Adwords or YouTube?
This makes sense on one level. You may not want people to think you only do one thing when you can do many. That way, if they aren’t interested in one offer, they may show interest in another. The problem is you’ve failed to get attention with your first words. That first impression has been lost in a sea of generalizations.
Being Specific Can Be a Bit Gutsy
It’s hard to put all your eggs in one basket. But fortunately, you aren’t really doing that. You still have your other offers. They are there in the background so that when you get a client and serve them well with one service, you can then offer them the next service, and then the next. As long as you make them happy, they’ll keep coming back.
The focused words you use are a bit like the doorway to a mansion. A mansion has many entrances. You choose the first one a potential customer will see. You invite them in and make them feel comfortable there. You talk to them. You may find out that they need a different service than the one they initially came to you for. You let them know and show them the room that’s right for them.
But because you invited them through a specific door, they showed up and you had your chance to speak with them. Give them a nonspecific location and they just may get lost and never come around at all.