Posts Tagged: positioning

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
6
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…