What do you think about when you hear the term “marketing?”

For many (including the “old” me) my mind was great at throwing out images of young men and women dressed in sharp suits disappearing into a smoke filled room to come up with innovative ideas, slogans, logos and tag lines to define whatever was their product or service as the “next greatest thing”.

OK, now I have revealed my old belief system

If you have something similar in your mind you may not feel, I certainly didn’t, that such a picture describes who you are. However we all know that once in business we do have to market our services to some extent, otherwise who knows we are there?

The first task of marketing: GAIN ATTENTION

It isn’t the only thing, but it is the most important first step. When you think about it, that is actually what the smart ad, the snappy logo and the cute tagline is trying to do, GRAB YOUR ATTENTION.

There are are many, many types of business put there but there are some common categories. Perhaps one of the simplest is the difference between businesses that everyone has heard of (e.g. Insurance, Financial planning, Real Estate, Chiropractors) and those that are unfamiliar (Life coach, security consultant etc.)

The challenge for the former group is the reaction: “OK. I know what that is and I already know someone who does that/I don’t need it”

The challenge for the latter group: “OK. I didn’t understand that and I don’t see how that applies to me because I don’t really know what you do”

Get into your prospects world

The challenges, though different in detail are basically the same. How do I, as a service provider, get the prospect to think: “OK, I understand that and yes, I am dealing with that issue - how could you help me?” This is attention getting and you have the chance to do that as soon as you meet someone.

How to do it? It takes practice but thinking along these lines may help:

1. Who is my product or service aimed at? (Be specific)

2. What challenges are they facing?

3. How do I solve those challenges?

Then tune your message to the challenges of your ideal client base. Turn your client attraction message into words they understand, and emotion words at that. Before you work with them are your clients frustrated, angry, confused, scared, uncertain about anything? That could be a good place to start.

Thinking about your client/prospect and what they are dealing with will help you avoid the mistake of talking endlessly about your self and your company. Doing that more or less guarantees that your prospect will not be attracted to your message!

I have always felt some sympathy for those in highly competitive businesses, especially when there are a lot of players. For example Real Estate, Financial Planning and Insurance. 

I recently attended a networking event and, as usual, I was unable to meet all the attendees. A couple of days later I received a very nice email from someone who was there interested in meeting to discuss whether I would like to save some money on my general insurance and how they could help.

This is a common approach I find and often includes information on how long the company has been in business, where they are located, their commitment to customer service, lowest prices in the industry, widest range of products, most unique products and so on. Features and benefits in other words.

The reason I have sympathy for this is that everyone tells me roughly the same thing! All companies seem to have the same features! In the case I cite above there is the added difficulty that I, personally, don’t buy insurance on price. Obviously that’s a factor but it isn’t the predominant one. What is, you might ask?

Well that is what you need to find out! You can do that by enquiring it of me, but that requires a dialogue. I am willing to be though, there are other people out there looking for customer service and a relationship, or other vague terms. As a clue to my situation, here is an attention getting message that woudl engage me:

“Often times my clients work with me because they find buying insurance a real pain. In particular they don’t want to keep track of all their premium due dates and they hate the fact that renewal notices are the only communication they have with their insurance agent. When they have an insurance question they are frustrated that they can’t get a timely and accurate answer from their agent who they may not evern really now”

That talks to me hugely!  What do you best clients say about you? Why do they work with you. specifically? If they say things like “the relationship” or “the customer service” ask them what they mean SPECIFICALLY. What do you do for them that makes them LOVE you? You might be surprised at the answers but if that’s how you help them, that’s probably how you can get the attention of similar prospects.

I know, you may feel that limits your audience. We will talk about that here soon!