subject: Are You Getting Noticed - How Well Does Your Marketing Work? [print this page] I don't often see hitchhikers these days and my mother will be happy to hear I don't make a practice of picking them up. But, I did take notice of one as I made my way onto the entrance ramp to the interstate one day.
I noticed, because the hitchhiker was so far off the road that I did a double take to determine why this person was even standing there - their thumb was barely distinguishable and their gaze was downward as if hoping no one would notice them.
I'm sure like me, at times you've marketed your products and services like that hitchhiker - making it difficult for the people you want to connect with to notice you. I know you and I don't do this purposely.
Think for a minute about the way you market. Are you sticking your thumb up so that it's obvious what your business is about, or sheepishly standing to the side, as if you're afraid someone might actually want to know how your products or services would benefit them?
Visualize the kid in the classroom who positively knows the answer to the teacher's question sticking their hand as high in the air as possible to get the teacher's attention. There's no ignoring this kid - they're cute, and so persistent - that's the same reaction you want folks to have when you market your business. Ok, maybe not the cute part...
If you were hiring you as an outside consultant to your business, what would you tell the owner about their marketing? Are you speaking directly to me, the potential client, as if I'm an important person to your business? Are you pushing features at me in used car salesman style, or do you speak to me in a way that tells me you know what keeps me up at night?
Check the language in your marketing pieces. What is the ratio of You to We? Is it all about what "we" do or is it you focused?
Here are three things you can do to have an immediate impact on speaking your potential client's language and getting noticed.
1. Review your marketing messages to make sure there is higher ratio of you focus than we focus.
2. Put yourself in the shoes (or slippers) of your potential clients to understand what keeps them up at night. Include this language in your marketing message. You want the audience to react with "That's me! They're speaking directly to me. They understand my needs."
3. The cute little kid trying to get the teacher's attention? It was persistence! I know you know what your marketing message is. You've lived it, you developed it, you wrote the words. But, your audience hasn't had that same luxury. You want to express it again and again as if it were the first time, write it as if it were fresh information over and over. For your audience, it is the first time, it is fresh.
