All too often companies spend a lot of time and money developing their logo and the graphic look and feel of their promotional materials - important aspects of effective marketing - while giving only cursory consideration to their marketing message - an equally important component to successfully promoting your business. Development of your marketing message should be given at least equal time as development of the graphic elements or what is commonly referred to as the "look and feel".
Here is a six step process that will help assure your marketing message will sell.
1. Capture the attention of your target market with a headline that clearly defines who you are talking to. If you are selling to retirees your headline might be something like, "If you are 65 or older."
2. Identify the problems, symptoms, issues, needs and wants of your target market. You must start with where they are and then move them to the action you want them to take. To continue our example, if you are looking for retired people to volunteer time to a cause your sub-head might read, " And looking for a way to make a difference in the lives of others".
3. Provide a brief description of the product. This is the features of your product or service. Be sure you describe features that matter to the target market you are communicating with and that you describe them from the target market's prospective. In other words, talk about what your customer is buying - not what you are selling.
4. Describe the benefit and the value that the customer will derive from purchasing your product or service (or from taking the action you want them to take). Again these benefits must be pertinent to the customer group you are selling to.
5. Give your message credibility. This could include testimonials, case studies, or money-back guarantees.
6. Specifically state the action you want the recipient of your message to take. For example, "Pick-up the phone now and call 111-222-3333 to register" is much more likely to lead to action than simply giving a telephone number and assuming that if the person wants to register they will call the number. Whenever possible, you will also want to offer multiple ways for people to take action (i.e. phone, email, fax, regular mail, and website).
Follow these six simple steps and you'll have a marketing message that sells. And the great thing about investing in development of your marketing message - just like your logo - you will be able to - and you will want to - use it in all your promotional materials from your 30 second introduction to your website.
© 2007 STRATEGIES-BY-DESIGN.
Julie Chance is president of Strategies-by-Design, a Dallas-based marketing consulting firm specializing in marketing programs including marketing coaching for professional service providers and specialty retailers. Visit her web site at www.strategies-by-design.com to sign up for her free marketing tips newsletter.