Focus On Your Message to Better Target Customers

Focus On Your Message To Specifically Communicate Your Message:

If you're like most small business owners, you can't shut up about the millions of great things about your products and services. But it's the "shutting up" that actually helps get you profits. It's called focusing on your message; that is, picking a single or very short set of primary characteristics or traits that dictate how you communicate with your customers. 

Here are some tips to help you focus on your message:

• Choose no more than two or three key messages that you want to communicate. If you're a really small or streamlined operation, pick just one.

• Take the most important message and make it first. Don't save the best for last.
• Make your message positive.
• Be prepared to sum up any message and its idea in 30 seconds or less. When people say "What do you do?" or "What do you sell?" you should be able to answer (in normal-paced speech) in less time than you'd spend in an elevator. You don't want your first impression to be boring.
• Repeat your message. Often. In many ways, but the same message.
• Stay away from big words. Keep your message easy to understand and easy to remember.
• Don't be vague. "Just Do It" may work for Nike, but not for your small business. Make sure people know what you offer, especially if you're new.

• Give your message enough time and effort to get out there. When you see someone else's great message after a week, don't switch yours right away before knowing the results of your messaging.
• If you're not sure if your message is the right one, keep thinking.

  One of the biggest mistakes that small business owners make in regards to marketing is "getting too busy to focus," or being unable to narrow down their attention to the one thing that makes their company stand out above the competition. It's important to put a plan and a message in place, along with strategies for getting out the word, before getting swamped in the everyday bustle of being a small business owner. 

Hiring or consulting with a third-party outsider, such as a marketing expert or even a college student studying marketing (student internships are a very cost-effective way to get marketing help), may give you the fresh air you need to step back and see what you've got.

Common Marketing Message Approaches:

Since most customers make a purchase based on emotion, and rationalize their purchases with fact, focus on a message that addresses a feeling first. Common marketing messages include:

• Discovery: The idea that you'll allow the customer to discover something new, like an amazing new product or solution to their problem.
• Value: The idea that your customer, when choosing your products or services, will get a great bargain considering quality, price, or other factors.
• Superiority: The idea that your customer will want to associate themselves with a leading company: one that is the "oldest," "best," "top-rated," or has an impressive list of celebrity customers with whom they will have something in common.
• Pride: The idea that your customer will feel good to have supported a product, service, or company that upholds a certain standard of ethics, treats its workers well, offers values-driven products, or supports charitable causes.

Whatever your message is, it should appear everywhere.  As your customer leaves your website, exits your store, or finishes a transaction, it's your job to dictate how they feel and what they think about your business.  Don't overload them, but guide them well and remind them of your message consistently in all of your literature, communication, and point-of-sale signage.

---

What's Next

Next In This Guide
Part 4:
How to Create Effective Offers - Good offers result in sales. Poor offers result in lost revenue, added expense, and failure. Learn how to create effective offers.

Previous In This guide
Part 2:
Knowing Your Customers - Understand your customers in order to maximize profits and minimize wasteful spending on ineffective ads. Get to know your customer!

Table of Contents
Street Smart Guide to Small Business Marketing

 

More Free Small Business Guides