Your Marketing Message

Your message is first among your weapons in the battle of perceptions.

Your message allows you to accomplish many things. Your message can educate the masses, convert the non-believers or separate the wheat from the chaff. But not all three.

Your first clue to your message comes from where in the Awareness Scale? your target sits. (See my article titled "Target Your Market" for further discussion on the Awareness Scale?)

The Educational Target

The Educational Target needs the benefits of your type of service/product fully and carefully explained. Don't spend time differentiating your company from your competition, there isn't any. Instead, your target must have their awareness raised until they care.

The Doubter Target

The Doubter Target needs to have their objections overcome. You still must present the general benefits, but concentrate on overcoming the fears revealed in your research. Show how you deliver these benefits better than your competition. Your materials have a greater fight for attention here.

The Differentiation Target

The Differentiation Target is the most obvious target. All your competition is there. This market is already buying your type of service/product and they know what the major benefits are. You must highlight how you deliver the major benefits better than the competition. How you have other, less obvious benefits, your competitors don't. You must really stand out in this crowd. To be noticed, your materials and approach must be unique.

As you can see, each target needs a different message. Don't make the mistake of trying to combine the messages in one approach. It won't work.

Bad marketing happens to good people because they can't believe others are blind to their goodness. Marketing is a battle of perceptions, not products. Objective reality doesn't exist. What people believe about you and your product is what's real. This is tough for most people to come to grips with. Creating a positive impression is not saying you are wonderful. It's proving it. Marketing works when it demonstrates, not when it asserts.

Don't explain the tools of your trade and don't list the features. Go for the benefits. Make them clear and desirable. If your target has to figure out the benefits for themselves, you're asking them to do your job for you. They won't. They'll do something else. The loss is yours.

For marketing purposes, each feature must deliver a benefit. Otherwise, it's worthless. Write out all the benefits of your product/service. Pretend you are a prospect. For each benefit statement you write, ask yourself, "So what?" If your answer to "So what?" is more explanation, your statement is not yet a benefit.

Example:

Client says: "Our car has passenger-side air bags." We reply: "So what? This is a feature." Client: "Our air bags inflate in 1/1000 of a second and can withstand 24 G forces." Us: "So what? This is still a feature." Client: "The passenger can walk away from a head-on collision." Us: "Now that's a benefit."

Keith Thirgood, Creative Director

Capstone Communications Group

Helping businesses get more business through innovative marketing

http://www.capstonecomm.com Markham, Ontario, Canada 905-472-2330

Subscribe to Thrive-on-line http://list.capstonecomm.com/ma il.cgi?f=list&l=thrive_on_line

In The News:


pen paper and inkwell


cat break through


Marketing Brain Trust

Rest assured that no matter how smart you are, you... Read More

Devious and Deceptive Packaging

Have you read anything in the news lately about childhood... Read More

Word of Mouth Marketing

'Word of Mouth' is still one of the most effectivemarketing... Read More

What Does Your Business Card Say About You? - Making A Great First Impression!

Interesting article in USA Today that I read this week... Read More

How to Put the Profit Producing Power of Couponing to Work for You

Coupons have proven themselves to be highly effective sales tools... Read More

How Simple, Small Changes Can Add Real Money To Your Pocket

I want to share with you a story. This story... Read More

Great Marketing is Like Making a Great Movie

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCEThe Oscars will be handed out soon, and... Read More

Fundraisers - How to Raise Twice the Money With Half the Sweat

If your members, parents or donors wear clothes, watch t.v.... Read More

Plant a Seed and Watch Your Business Grow

Do you have all the business you could possibly want... Read More

7 Great Ways to Market Yourself and Your Business to Help Increase Sales

Do you own a business and need ideas on how... Read More

How To Turn $100,000 Into $1,191,817 In Just One Year Part II

Turning a modest $100,000 annual turnover into $1,191,817 may sound... Read More

Writing Marketing Copy That Sells

When your prospects see your marketing materials, your brochure, your... Read More

Hermey Wants To Be A Dentist

December marked the 40th anniversary of the original broadcast of... Read More

Stay in Touch with Leads and Get More Closes

How many leads have come into your business since the... Read More

Ready, Fire, Aim!

You probably read my headline and thought, wait a minute,... Read More

Why Market to Generation X?

Generation X"--the 40 million or so people born between 1965... Read More

Are Corporate Awards and Corporate Gifts Beneficial for Your Business?

With the increased challenges that all companies are faced with,... Read More

Are You Ready To Research Your Market?

Picture this. You develop some product or service, spend countless... Read More

Business Postcard Marketing: 35 Ways to Use It

Postcards are an effective way for many business owners and... Read More

Four Essential Marketing Plan Components

Preparing a Marketing Plan for your product or service is... Read More

How to Earn the Right

"How to Earn the Right..."Marketing your professional services is a... Read More

Mortgage Marketing - How to Earn More Business From Realtors®

Is your marketing strategy getting the results you desire?Mailing postcards,... Read More

Peek a Boo - We See You -- 7 Trade Show Tips for Marketing Managers

Peek a Boo - We See YouDoes your company have... Read More

How To Perfect Your Marketing Message!

When it comes to your marketing message, the little things... Read More

Custom Lanyards - The Perfect Solution for Promotion, Branding, and Marketing

Lanyards are fast becoming the new "must have" promotional item.Events... Read More

Creative Marketing: Just Your Style

You've enlisted some of the traditional marketing methods to sell... Read More

Your Ideal Client

A lot of small businesses make the mistake of thinking... Read More

Planning Your Postcard Marketing Campaign

Before you create your postcard, do a little planning. Ask... Read More

How To Choose a Qualitative Research Market

Qualitative research, whether individual interviews, in-homes, focus groups, ethnographies and... Read More

Marketing And Patience

"Get your positioning and your programs implemented properly, and the... Read More

Networking, iNetworking, What Is The First Rule?

Networking on the Internet is the same as networking in... Read More

How to Avoid Giving Away Free Consulting

After spending 30 minutes in a coffee shop with a... Read More

Youre Halfway There!...Or Not Part 2

Now that you have had a chance to create a... Read More