There is a proper way to structure all your marketing communications – from a selling standpoint – to make sure you make the biggest impact. When developing your material, such as an ad, you probably ask yourself, “What should I talk about? What selling points should I highlight?
The key is to build a case for your product or service based on what’s important to your prospect and on your competitive situation.
Think about your marketing strategy this way: Your product or service is on trial. The prospects are the jury. You are the attorney and you must prove to the jury they should buy your product. Your job is to compile all the evidence and present it in a way that the jury will believe.
But if you look at the way most businesses communicate, they don’t build case for themselves at all – instead, most marketing communications all sounds the same. A prospect can’t distinguish one competitor from another, and is forced to make a decision based on price because no one has presented a compelling case.
Just imagine what it would be like if an attorney did as poor a job arguing a court case as most advertising does. What if during a trial an attorney stands up and says, “Come on…he couldn’t have done that! He’s a nice guy! Everyone loves him! There’s no way he did it!”?
As ridiculous as that sounds, that’s about as strong a case as most businesses put forward to defend and sell their product. Marketing communications is filled with platitudes: we’re better, we’re cheaper, we’re professional, we’ve got better service, we’ve been in business longer, we go the extra mile, etc.
In order to develop powerful marketing communication that distinguishes you from your competitors, and makes it obvious to prospects you are the best choice, you must determine what points your case is going to be built on.
There’s a three-step method for building the case.
Step 1: find out what your prospects want.
Step 2: give it to them.
Step 3: tell them what you will deliver in a believable way.
Building your case means building your prospect’s confidence – they know they’re making the right decision. Your job is to make it easy for them to make a decision to buy from you.
Here’s an easy way to come up with the points to build your case. If your best friend asked you for advice about how to evaluate what you are selling versus what your competitors are selling, what would you say? What kinds of things would your friend need to know to make the best possible purchasing decision? What things would you tell your friend to look out for? What specific pieces of information would your friend need to possess to make a fully informed buying decision?
These are precisely the points you’ll use to build your case. You must educate your prospects about how to make the best possible decision (what to base the decision on) and then you must present your case (your ability to deliver on these points).
Uncover what’s important for your customers. Make sure you can deliver what they want. Clearly communicate your case. That’s it – it’s that simple. If you do it well, you will clearly differentiate yourself from your competitors, and make it obvious to your prospects that you are definitely the best choice.
