Nothing to do with Demi Moore, Woody Harrelson or Robert Redford chucking some greenbacks over a pool table, this is about finding whatever it is that makes your business, your business.
Whenever I agree to take on a client - for either managed marketing services, or
website build, I obviously need to get to know their business. I do this through three things:
Brand positioning statement
Customer cheat sheet
SWOT analysis
Customer cheat sheet and SWOT I'll go over in another post, as they go well together. However what always amazes me is how much of the brand positioning statement comes from the client; it's all in their heads ready to be teased out and it shows the passion which sole traders and small businesses have about what they do.
What's it all about?
Where a customer cheat sheet tells me factual information about the business, the brand positioning statement is a series of six simple things which need to be answered from an emotional point of view. Target customer, customer problem, the solution, unique selling proposition, competition, reasons to believe. I'll cover the first three here, and the final three next week, giving examples using my own business.
Target customer: the factual description of my customers is 'small businesses looking to expand marketing or get a website' - not the catchiest term but it is accurate. If I apply emotion to this, it translates as 'people who know they have a great offline (or sometimes online) product or service, plus an amazing reputation for what they do.'
Two different ways of describing the same people, the latter helps you to start framing in your head who it is you should be targeting with marketing
Customer problem: factually this is 'get more customers'. Well of course everyone wants to do that. but marketing is all about defining problems and offering a solution. I would describe my customer problem as 'needing some support in building and managing their online presence while they are busy doing what they do.' I've now got a combo of who I think would buy my services, and what their problem is.
The solution: what is it that that I do that solves the above problem?
Marketing management and website build, in a nutshell. For positioning my brand, this translates that 'I can take the strain from web, social media, customer queries and online reputation management. I then also turn that into increased coverage, more enquiries, bookings and ultimately sales, in a cost effective way.' You've got to be offering value in time, cost or quality (or a mix of these) to have a marketing service worth buying.
Summary
I can now describe my customer, their problem and how I can solve it for them - this more emotive side of describing is important as it gives me the first half of a brand position, which then enables me to have a consistent and clear description of my offer. I can use this in Facebook posts, on the website, in flyers and for general promotion. The emotional aspect of it is important, as that is what really connects with people and will motivate them to send you a message, give you a call or press ' book now'.
Decent Marketing Proposition part two next time where we will go over unique selling proposition, describing the competition, reasons to believe and then put it all together.
If you have any comments, I'd love to hear them below. And if you need any help with the above, get in contact.
Mike
07843989176
Comments