In this day and age of a lot of noise and a cluttered marketplace, everyone it seems is podcasting, has a YouTube channel, an Instagram Page, or some other social media presence. It is important to have a strategic approach on how you get clients and get your name out in the marketplace.
There are a few ideas and strategies you need to implement in order to stand out in this sea of marketing noise. In the book Positioning by Trout and Ries (2 Madison Avenue ad execs) they suggest we get over 3000 commercial messages a day. I mean think about it, there are transit ads, ads on the boards at a hockey rink (if you watch hockey), ads while you watch baseball, and product placements on TV shows. Then there is radio, online media, newspaper, the flyers you get in the mail — the list goes on and on in terms of companies that are generating information to reach you and get you to become a customer!
But there are 3 key things you need to do in order to break through this cluttered, noisy marketplace.
Getting clients, attracting customers and making sales happen starts with clarity. You must be clear on your value, on what it is that you do for your customers. What is that result or “cool” thing you do for people? Think of the end results, think of how you truly help your customer.
Know your worth, your value and communicate it.
But what is value?
The value equation is the sum of your benefits minus costs equals value.
There are 4 key areas where a business’s intrinsic value comes into play.
There is the value of your product or service. What does your product or service do to help people? If you are reading this and you’re not sure what it is you really do for customers, think of spinach as a product.
It is loaded with value. It has vitamin K, which is great for your eyesight, it has antioxidants which help to prevent cancer in both men and women, and it is a green superfood, extremely loaded with nutrients. If you remember those old cartoons from the 60’s, Popeye loved spinach — it made him strong!
A service that has big benefits is FedEx. Their old ad campaign used to say, “When it absolutely has to get there the next day overnight or else”?
If you need to get your package on your client’s desk for 9 am tomorrow morning, FedEx will get it done.
When there is this kind of value, cost doesn’t matter; customers will pay whatever the price is, to get the service benefit or the product benefit.
In the case of spinach, it happens to be well priced too!
The other key benefit areas are a brand benefit and a relationship benefit.
Heinz Ketchup does a great job at building brand. The slogan they used for years was “Heinz there are no other kinds”! They are right! You don’t go into the grocery store to buy no-name ketchup or another brand…you probably go into the store and buy Heinz Ketchup.
In terms of products/services that have a relationship benefit, I think Allstate Insurance does a good job at reminding you that when you need insurance or an accident happens, “You’re in good hands”.
The key is to be clear as to what you do for others and what the benefits are of your offering.
The other area you want to get clear on is regarding who your ideal client is.
The downside of all the marketing clutter is that the approach is like throwing enough spaghetti on the wall and hoping it sticks.
Hope is not a good business strategy. Rather than taking a chance like when trying your hand at betting, be proactive about bringing in new business.
Now, if you are clear as to who your ideal client is, and you know their challenges, the buying triggers, where they network, hang out, and what media they interact with, then you must do two big things.
One is if you know good information about your ideal client, you can then communicate to them in a way that reaches to the things that matter most to them.
In your market research about your ideal client, you may find out that they have a certain challenge, or that they have various problems. If you know this information about your clients, you can talk to them about how you will solve those issues and problems for your customers, via your marketing.
When you have solutions, when you can take away a client’s pain, or get them a big result, that is the clarity that you must lead with in your marketing and sales messaging.
Here is an example of what I am sharing. A few years ago, in the 2008 real estate economic meltdown that took place, I had a client who was a home stager. She came into a coaching session with me in tears.
Business was down, real estate business was down, and local real estate agents weren’t too eager to see her, let alone do business with her. My client’s message was all about her. The work she did and not on the “benefit”. To help her through this issue and client challenge, she and I went online and did a Google News search about home staging.
What popped up were various articles about the home staging industry. One of these articles stood out!
It said, “Homes that were staged sold for 9-10% more on average than homes that weren’t staged, plus, homes that were staged (for re-sell) sold faster, meaning the real estate agents clients sold faster and the deals happened faster too.”
So, I encouraged my client to use these statistics in her marketing messaging. When she engaged with a real estate agent in her sales and marketing messaging, she would share these wonderful results and statistics!
What real estate agent doesn’t want to sell a house for more money and in less time. This is big value! A real estate agent can earn more money, have happier clients and make the sale faster if the home they are selling is staged. What real estate agent wouldn’t want those results?
Does a real estate agent care about the way you stage, or what your experience is, or that you have staged other homes? The answer is probably not. But a real estate agent does care about the commission they earn and that the closing of the house deal happens faster when it is staged.
Get clear about your clients/ideal customer. Know what drives them to buy, know what their key challenges are and share how you can solve those problems and bring them the results that matter to them!
The last bit of wisdom I want to share is to not add to the marketing noise and clutter.
Resist the temptation to buy flyers to send in a mass mailing, or if you use social media to connect to your clients, make sure you use a strategy of educating your client, sharing your value, and giving them ideas that help them. I would make sure your marketing strategy is relationship focused.
You need to connect to your clients in person. That means you need to meet, have business conversations, invite them to an event, see them, talk to them, and meet them in person.
If you can begin to connect to your clients in this way, rather than at arm’s length by posting something up on Facebook or sending a flyer to someone you don’t even know, your sales results will be that much better.
You’ve got some strategies and ideas to think about now.
Go make it a successful month!
