Messaging — No comments
27
Jul 09

10 questions to create a positioning breakthrough

quesitonsI’m going to share something with you that you might help you create a breakthrough in your positioning, and it’s something that actually occurs more often then you might think.  What I want to share with you is that often what you think is your core value is not, in fact, your real core value.

You may think that people choose you because of your price, or your critical thinking or the way you always stick to your deadlines but more times than not, your real value lies somewhere else.

The good news is that the key to unlocking what the real value is right under your nose.

It’s your customers.

If you’ve been doing business for some time and you’ve developed even a small stable of clients then you’ve got everything you need.

If you think about it, there is no better source to uncover “why” people choose to work with you then your own customers.  They key then, is to figure out how to get this information.

I’ve obviously spent a lot of time helping companies figure this out and, in the process, have developed 10 questions that you can ask your customers to get you those answers.

Sometimes all you need to ask are one or two and the answers will start gushing out.  But I’ve got the 10 because you never know which one will give you the great “reveal”.

Here are the 10 questions to ask your customers:

1.    Why did they choose you?

2.    What was their specific challenge/problem before choosing anyone?

3.    What kind of research did they do?

4.    How many others did they meet?

5.    What were some previous problems they had working with others?

6.    What were they expecting in working with you?

7.    What did they get?  Same. More. Different?

8.    How would they recommend you to others?

9.    In what situations would they recommend you to others?

10. How do you compare to their other suppliers?

Now, if you are going to spend some time asking those questions, you’re going to have to be prepared to listen, and I mean really listen.  You might even want to have someone else ask your customers these questions on your behalf.  Often customers can articulate this value better to someone they don’t know because they have to work that much harder to really explain it.

In any event, the questions will help you understand a good cluster of insights into why they chose you, their expectations and their actual experiences.

Give it a shot. Then let me know what new insight, or insights you discovered.

Messaging — 1 comment
16
Jul 09

Five words to help you write your value proposition

About six months ago I put together a presentation for the Create Chaos event in Florida.  It was a conference for creative professionals and I thought I would speak about creating the messaging around your value proposition.  Many of the attendees were freelancers or small business owners searching for ways to effectively position themselves in this very competitive field.

Obviously this was an audience that was savvy from a design standpoint so my challenge was to create a simple formula for them to wrap their heads around the language of their positioning vs just the image.  That’s been my strength.

If they could then combine a strong message with a sharp or effective design then that would be a pretty powerful result.

The process I asked them to go through, and you certainly can too, took 3 steps.

Step 1 was to think about the kinds of companies you like to work for – and to list these descriptors on a page.   All kinds of descriptors came out including: small, big, savvy, trust, freedom, smart, fast paying, decisive …and so on.

Step 2 was to think about the kinds of projects you like to work on – and to list these as well.  Examples included: websites, print, launches, branding, high margin, profile, causes, innovative…and more.

Step 3 was to have them understand what was the REAL value they brought to their existing clients.  In my experience there is often a gap here.  You might think they like you because of your design skill…but in fact it could be because you always deliver on time and on budget.  I gave them a list of 10 questions to ask their existing customers that would help them reveal their true value.  If you’d like that list then send me an email request and I can shoot them off to you.

The 5 Words To Help You Write Your Value Proposition

So, armed with a list of descriptors about the kinds of customers they wanted to attract,  a list of the kinds of projects they enjoy the most, and with new insights into the value that they really delivered I gave them a framework to then construct their value proposition.

And it consisted of these five words:

Are you a:

Looking for:

With those five words and their list of descriptors they could then start mixing and matching elements to craft a messaging strategy or positioning to start attracting the right clients, for the right projects and be sure that they were also the ones that would appreciate the value they would bring to to the table.

Here are a few examples, with each one building on additional layers:

Example#1

Are you a:  Growing entrepreneurial business?

Looking for:  A website that breaks through the clutter, but not your budget.

Example #2

Are you a: High quality interactive agency experiencing periods of high demand for tier one graphic illustrations?

Looking for: Serious design chops that know how to expertly handle client relationships, tight turnarounds and is available on an as-needed basis.

Example #3

Are you a :  Large corporation, with a strong brand and advertising campaigns that cross all media, who is tired of dealing with large agencies that are incapable of creating renewed interest in your business?

Looking for: A smaller, nimbler agency, with big ideas, and an even bigger passion to execute them with precision.

Each of these examples, in their own right, create a richness to the message.  Certainly more than just saying you are a “graphic designer who builds websites”.  They all clearly define the target audience as well as the scenarios they are facing and how the provider can best meet those needs.

And that is pretty much what you need to effectively position your company against your target – designer, agency, developer, lawyer, dog walker or whatever it is you do.  And if you remember from my previous posts, you’ll be wanting to attract those customers that YOU love to work with as well – heck, that makes work fun!

What’s Your Value Proposition?

I have yet to find a scenario where this simple task and the structure of these five words has not been able to produce results.  Messaging and positioning can be extremely difficult if it is not something that comes intuitively to you – or you are not a “words” person.  This framework is designed to take you through some simple steps to create a unique but effective positioning statement that you can then deliver to a creative professional (or yourself) to build some marketing around.

If you perform this exercise, and I encourage you to do it, I would love to have you share your results with me directly or post them as a reply to this topic.

Messaging — 1 comment
06
Jul 09

The importance of choosing
your customers

choosing apples In my last post I introduced the notion of changing your orientation when developing your messaging strategy. Spend less time telling them about you and more time telling them about them.

So now you need to ask yourself – who are they?

Well I have some good news…really good news.

You can choose.

Yes, you can choose your customers. And, I would argue that this is one of the most enlightening concepts in marketing.

So, who should you chose?

Well, if you’ve had any success to date I bet it is those customers that you are particularly good at acquiring now (but not enough of them), that love your work and that you love working for, and that are profitable and repeat customers.

That’s a good start. Heck, having an entire business of only those customers you love, that love you, that you do amazing work for and that are repeat and profitable customers is a pretty nice place.

So, let me get back to my point.

Now that you have chosen WHO your customers are, you can create a messaging strategy around who they are. I call this “Is this you?” marketing. Yah, pretty slick.

And, as super slick as that name is, it is super powerful because suddenly your messages start filtering OUT the customers you don’t want and becoming a SUPER filter for those that you do want and who you will most likely satisfy with your service. And that also means a step change in the performance of all your marketing programs.

That’s a nice place.

Your Messaging – Get To It!

So, now that you know the secret that you can actually choose your customers you can start orienting your messaging around them. What businesses are they in? What is unique about them? What specific challenges to they have that someone like you can help them solve? What kinds of things do they really value (price, service, integrity, local boy, creativity, intelligence, friendliness…)?

When they hit your web page – make’em go “Yeah Baby! That’s me”. Then you got’em interested. You may not be done yet but I can tell you if you can get there..you are 90 percent of the way home.

Messaging — No comments
26
Jun 07

Want to nail your message?
Change your orientation.

stickmanSo you want to attract and convert more customers but where to start? For my money the key to attracting and converting customers lies in your messaging – the collection of words and images you use to connect with and communicate to your audience.

Connect and you are golden, miss and it sucks. To me, nailing your messaging is the single most important thing you can do in your entire marketing arsenal.

And in my experience most folks get it wrong – awfully wrong.

And it’s all due to orientation. A change in your orientation around how you view your communication objectives can be one of the most powerful tools in your marketing tool kit. It not only completely draws in your desired audience, but it makes every other marketing program you execute that much stronger.

When most people/companies develop their messaging strategies they do what most folks do – they look in the mirror. And then they tell you what they see. This is, of course, themselves.

And while we might be very handsome or pretty as the case may be, it’s just the wrong orientation.

Point the Mirror Towards Your Customer

Instead, you need to first put the mirror out – to your customer. What they need to see in your messaging is themselves.

Why is this so important and so powerful?

When you are communicating and particularly online when customers can flip off to another site at any instant, you need to connect with and identify with your customer/prospect as quickly and as relevantly as possible. You don’t have a moment to waste so you need to grab’m.

They are looking for something, and frankly, it can’t be you cause they don’t know you. But they do know who they are and their own situation. So, you need to play this back to them where they go “YES! That’s me..yes, yes, yes and yes!”.

When you’ve done this you can go home glowing because you’ve just unlocked the path to marketing happy-land.

So ask yourself, who’s that person in the mirror? That should drive your messaging strategy. At a minimum it should be the first thing you deliver. More later…

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