Crafting a Message
One of the most overlooked area of business is developing a clear message. It seems that most businesses just state what they do in all of their marketing and advertising allowing the potential client to hopefully make the connection that they need that product or service.
We are emotional beings that make decisions on those emotions. Once we make that decision, we look for analytical ways to justify those decisions. Because of that, any messaging must begin with an emotion.
What do you want your customer to feel when they engage with your brand? This may be on social media, your website, or even through your print marketing. Deciding what feeling you want your potential client to feel is your first step.
Deciding the emotion doesn’t have to be a challenge. An attorney may want the emotion to be confidence or trust. A cup cake retail shop may want their customers to feel a sense of nostalgia. That emotion should then drift through all of your marketing efforts using color, graphics and the words you use.
We are no longer within the service age, but in the experience and transformation age. While, of course, service is important, that aspect of business has been made a commodity. People will engage more with a specific experience or transformation.
This is never more clear than a gym. All of their marketing focuses on the transformation of the person who uses their gym. They never say, this is a place to come in and sweat and have your muscles hurt for days. Their focus is the end result.
That is how your messaging needs to focus. Once you have the emotion, what is either the transformation or experience you want your customer to have? If you run a service type of business, it may be something along the lines of how your customer will feel when you are providing them your service.
Finally, once you have the emotion and transformation or experience, you want to focus in on what problem you are solving. It always amazes me how many websites I read and still don’t really know what the company does. Don’t make it hard for your potential client to know what you do and how you can help them.
Since you know your audience, you can specifically speak to specific issues they are facing. You understand the stress this puts them under or maybe by using your product or service, it will provide a more streamlined approach for your client. It really doesn’t matter. Talk directly to the value of what you do, in your client’s terms.
Focus on the value, from your client’s perspective. It is easy for you to look at your business and see all of the value you provide. But looking at your business from the outside often times doesn’t speak to that value at all. Why should a client use your product or service? What does it do for them? What problem does it solve? Why YOU?
At Operation Crusader, we know these conversations are not easy. If you need some help walking through the conversation, please just reach out and let’s talk. We would love to have a conversation with you.
