Most marketing messages are boring, timid, and ineffective. You need to refine your message so that it compels your target market to respond.
Know What They Want
Now that you have focused your message on the customer and their problem, you need to craft your offer. This is where a lot of people get lazy. Don’t fall into that trap.
Here are two great questions to ask yourself when you’re crafting your offer:
Of all the products and services you offer, which do you have the most confidence in delivering? For example, what product or service would you provide if you only got paid if the customer achieved their desired result? Or, phrasing it another way, what problem could you solve for a member of your target market?
Of all the products and services you offer, which do you enjoy delivering the most?
Here are some additional questions to think about:
What is my target market really buying? For example, quilters are not buying fabric; maybe they are looking forward to the memories of snuggling their new grandbaby in the quilt they made.
What is the biggest benefit to lead with?
What are the best emotionally charged words and phrases to capture the attention of my prospects?
What objections do they have, and how do I solve them?
What outrageous offer and guarantee can I make?
Is there an intriguing story I can tell?
Who else is selling similar products and services, and how?
Who else has tried selling to my target market, and how has that failed?
One of the main reasons marketing fails is because it is lazy and does not grab your target market’s attention. Putting the right stuff in front of the wrong people or the wrong stuff in front of the right people is one of the biggest and most common mistakes quilt shops make. This is why it is so important to know your target market. If you know who your target market is, then answering these questions should be relatively straightforward.
One of the easiest ways to know what your target market wants is to ask them. Talk to them about what projects they are working on, what they plan to work on, and the reason for those projects. A word of caution here: people answer questions logically but buy emotionally. Purchases are emotional and then later justified logically. This means that you need to supplement your questions with observation.
Remember this as you talk with your customers: Henry Ford reportedly said, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”
Elements of an Irresistible Offer
Now that you know what your customers want, you can craft an irresistible offer with these essential elements.
Value. What is the most valuable thing you could do for your customers? What is the result that takes them from point A to point B, which you can take them through while making a profit? This is the crux of your offer.
Language. You need to know the jargon or language your target market uses. This is how you will connect with your target market.
The reason why. When you have a great offer, people will want to know why. If they cannot figure out why, they get suspicious (if it’s too good to be true, then it probably is). Avoid this by telling them why. Don’t give them a reason to go somewhere else. Be authentic and honest. For example, clearing out old stock, receiving too much stock, moving locations, seasonal, etc.
Value stacking. Packaging in “bonuses” can help your offer be a no-brainer. Often, these bonuses can be more valuable than the main offer. Infomercials do this very well, “But wait! We’ll double your offer…” or “That’s not all…”
Upsells. When your prospects are ready to buy, it is the perfect time to offer complementary products or services. This is you trying to serve your customers better, more fully. It is not a sleazy salesmanship. Give them more value while making a profit yourself so you can turn around and serve more customers.
Payment plans. While I'm not a huge fan of this, if you are selling costly products, like sewing machines, sergers, or longarms, this makes the high price easier to swallow. Just remember to include discounts for upfront lump sum payments.
Guarantee. You need an outrageous guarantee. One that totally reverses the risk of doing business with you. People have been burned so many times that it is hard to trust. You need to make doing business with you as risk-free as possible.
Scarcity. Your offer needs to be limited. Be authentic with this; you don’t want to lie. People respond more to a fear of missing out than the prospect of gain. FOMO, or fear of missing out, is real. Just remember to have a solid “reason why” for the scarcity. Examples may include limited supply or limited time, or “only four seats left.”. If you can show a quantity or a timer, this will help.
Target the Pain
Now that you have the elements to craft a great offer let’s talk about why you should target the pain. Imagine you have a splitting headache. You search through your medicine cabinet only to discover you don’t have any pain relievers. So, you jump in your car and head to the closet place that has pain relievers.
Do you shop around at different stores? Do you worry about the price? Unlikely. You’re in pain, and you need immediate relief. Even if the pain reliever were double or triple the normal cost, you would probably still buy it.
The usual ways of shopping get thrown out the window when you're in pain. And the exact same is true for your customers. How much selling does the store attendant have to do when you are in pain? None. So, stop talking about the features and benefits and start talking about the relief and results your products and services offer.
When you do this, you can stop bribing your customers with discounts, and they will flock to you because you solve their problem. Even if you sell the exact same product as a competitor if you can package it in a way that takes away their pain, they will purchase from you every time, and they’re much more likely to be a raving fan. Targeting existing pain rather than promising a future pleasure will result in a much higher conversion rate, much higher customer satisfaction, and lower price resistance.
You Can’t Bore People into Buying
Almost no other skill will serve you better than being able to write compelling words. Articulating why a prospect should buy from you rather than your competitor, creating emotion and motivation, is a masterful marketing skill. This is called copywriting. Whether you have or develop this skill yourself or hire for it, you want your copy to be like a car wreck–no matter how bad it is, you can’t look away.
The truth is people buy from people, not faceless businesses. Don’t use “professional” language. You should add your personality to your copy. You need to write your sales copy as if you were talking to a single person, your ideal customer avatar.
Don’t use your marketing material as a screen to hide behind. Use it to give your opinion, educate, comment, and be your authentic self. This will instantly create rapport and make you different from everyone else.
Elements of Great Copywriting
Some words are emotional triggers. Understanding your target market will give you those words. You can also do a general internet search for them. There are also five primary motivators of human behavior:
Fear
Love
Greed
Guilt
Pride
If your headlines are not pushing at least one of these motivators, it is probably too timid and ineffective. Again, you can do a quick internet search for the most effective headlines.
The emotional triggers for one target market will differ from another. This is why you shouldn’t copy the competition. You need to know your target market to use the emotional trigger words and motivators that will force your ideal customers to respond.
Enemy in Common
According to the Journal of Safety Research, 74 percent of Americans believe they are above-average drivers. And only 1 percent believe they are below average. It's the same with accepting blame. How many times have you heard a child say, “It’s not my fault”? As adults, it’s pretty much the same. So, what can we do with that knowledge?
First, never blame your customers for the position they are in. Second, find the enemy in common. This is a great way to leverage the “It’s not my fault” mentality. This is an excellent way of bonding with your potential customers. It's a great way to break through the clutter and get your prospects' attention.
Conclusion
When you are creating marketing collateral, talk to your ideal customer avatar and be direct, focused, and clear about what you want them to do. Use their emotional triggers and motivators to get them to respond. The better you understand your target market, the more predictable your marketing efforts will be.
What is your elevator pitch? Send me an email at jacob@curtisaccountingsolutions.com.
If you need help with this and piecing together financial freedom, please schedule a call with me by clicking the link below.