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Welcome to the The Marketing Source e-newsletter! Our goal is to provide you with real-world marketing tips.If you have any ideas for articles, please send them along.
Correct your marketing tunnel vision: think like a customer
Most small business marketers are guilty of tunnel
vision. We get enamored with the latest and greatest
products we offer. We love the clever company
brochures we painstakingly put together. We salivate
over our chock-full-of-content web sites that let visitors
get all the details about everything we do.
Unfortunately, we spend too little time looking at how,
when and why our customers want information. Too
often, the product we are so proud of isn't something
the customer understands or wants. The brochures
sit unread on desks or end up in the garbage. All that
content on the Web site doesn't keep people engaged
in the site or help them find what they need.
When is the last time you stood in your customer's
shoes? That you looked -hard - at your business and
your communications from your customer's point of
view? We'll bet it's been way too long.
Step out from behind your marketing desk. Follow
these tips and you'll be a lot closer to understanding
where your customers are coming from.
Educate, inform, enlighten
Don't take for granted how much your customers and
prospects know about your product or service. Too
many small business marketers go right to making
the sale. Even if people have bought from you before,
you need to consistently communicate what your
product or service does for them and why they should
buy from you.
Talk benefits, not features
Nobody cares about your products as much as you.
Really. They don't care. Your customers care about
what your products do for them. Do you save them
money? Save them time? Cut down on errors? "We
have state-of-the-art technology with the Geostat
5000" doesn't mean anything. Compare it to "We can
save you money on next month's utility bill" - now
that's a benefit.
Get rid of jargon and techie industry
speak
Be ruthless. Look at your Web site, your brochures,
your ads, your letters, your invoices - everything your
customers see. Are there lots of abbreviations? Four-
syllable words? Anything that isn't crystal clear? Get
rid of it.
Make it easy
Why do so many small businesses put up obstacles
and roadblocks for customers? It's a turnoff when
people have to give tons of personal information to
sign up for your e-newsletter or buy your product. Try
role-playing as a customer at your business. How
easy was it to navigate the web site? To order online?
To get information when you called on the phone?
Walk through a few scenarios as a customer and see
how easy you are to do business with.
Talk to your customers where they can hear
you
If you are cranking out e-mail campaigns and e-
newsletters to people who aren't tech savvy, you're
wasting your breath. Ditto if you are producing
expensive printed brochures for people who are more
interested in downloading.
Great marketing is delivering the right message at
the
right time in the right way to the right people. Keep
asking "what does this look like to my customer?" and
you'll be well on your way.
Need help with strategic planning or getting your
advertising under control? The Marketing
Source can help.
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