The majority of business owners believe their products or services are unique enough to be more attractive than those offered by their competitors. And so they should.
It's also true that when we market our products and services, we typically focus on promoting features and benefits, sometimes price, and sometimes how they stack up against the competition.
But what about what actually interests people? Are your products or services interesting enough to drag potential buyers away from whatever they're doing and pay attention to you? What about your core products and services, are they interesting enough?
Imagine how it feels to experience for the very first time being told about something that would positively change your life; new job, new baby, new house, new life. Encapsulating that feeling and conveying it to potential customers would definitely pique their interest, wouldn't you agree?
marketing-think...
EMAIL NEWSLETTER OPEN RATES
With compelling email copy, average open rates are around 26%.
(my newsletter average open rates range from 44.5% to 57.3%)
WHO'S READING YOUR CONTENT?
54% of decision-makers spend more than one hour per week reading and reviewing thought-leadership content.
Nobody Reads Advertising. People Read What Interests Them, and Sometimes it's an Ad.
Whilst most people can name a few different types of marketing, such as digital marketing, email marketing, direct marketing, and so on, there are actually forty-one flavours from digital to social, outbound to inbound, account-based to influencer, guerrilla to relationship.
Today's multitude of channels, platforms and styles of marketing creates enormous opportunities for all types of business, but how you would reach your audience without personal computers, emails, the internet, social media, mobile phones, TV or radio?
In the 50s and 60s things were simpler, and depending on where you were in the world, TV & radio advertising were either in their infancy or non-existent. Billboards were out of reach for most (because of the cost, not because they were high up), so print advertising was king and it spawned a generation of advertising gods whose mastery of the written word remains the stuff of legend.
One man, in particular, made his mark because his approach was so radically different. Howard Luck Gossage (what a great middle name!) used advertising to create conversations that extended beyond the advertising media, while all other ads were self-contained and invited readers to shop here, call there, buy this. An action is not a conversation and it's not even being involved, but Mr Gossage changed all that, and you can too with a little re-thinking.
more marketing-think...
ARE YOUR DUCKS LINES UP?
Consumers find inconsistent brand messaging more frustrating than [almost] anything else.
USE WHAT YOU KNOW WORKS
Email marketing still has the highest return on investment for small businesses.
Are you getting the most out of Google My Business?
Google My Business is a free service provided by Google that allows you to set the location of your business along with a range of other services on Google maps and in local search results.
I plan to write a full article on the features and benefits of Google My Business, but for now, here are some things you should know:
1) Google My Business is free. You only need to sign-up and complete your profile details.
2) Local search visibility. Regardless of how much you invest in SEO, you'll never beat the Google My Business listings of local businesses because they have priority on the first page of results.
3) Opening times. Keep searchers and customers up to date with your opening times and other details right on the Google results page.
4) Improves SEO. Completing the full profile information adds to, and improves your SEO efforts.
5) Customer reviews. It's a great place to host your customer reviews. If you run a local business with a shop or premises people can visit, encourage your customers to write a Google Review.
What is your marketing really saying about your business?
The longer you've been in business, and the more you've engaged in marketing activities the more disjointed it may have become.
My eye-opening marketing performance analysis will put you back in control of knowing exactly what's out there, whether or not it's 'on-brand' and what it's really saying about you.
The process includes a thorough and detailed, objective snap-shot that will demonstrate how well every aspect of your marketing activity is or is not working for your business.
My recommendations are designed to rapidly bring your marketing back on track, significantly improving how effective it is.
If it sounds like that could be helpful for your business, or perhaps for someone you know, I'd love to show how I can help.
In case you missed them...
A Guide to Content and Distribution
How and where to get your content out there.
The Communication Illusion
It's tough making sure that what we communicate is correctly received and interpreted.
