Many of us spend a lot of time thinking about what we want. This is true for career planning, negotiation, marketing strategy, and lunch. We are the center of universe, or so we think.
In marketing and sales you must let go of what you want and put the focus first on the customer, or better said on the market. The needs, issues, and dreams of the market (I.E. a collection of customers with common interests) should be what drives are marketing strategy along with your day to day decisions.
Of course, a business needs to make money and grow and meet the stakeholders’ expectations, but these are downstream rewards given by your satisfied customers. They come after you have delivered value or solved the customers’ problems.
To get these rewards, the focus must start with the customer. Sounds simple and it is. Here are few examples:
– Your marketing messages need to include the customer and not you. For example, the tag line for McDonalds for many years was “You Deserve a Break Today”. The message was about you getting burgers and fries and not about making them money.
– Automaker Jeep just came up with a new ad campaign that reads: “Have fun out there”. Yep, you need to have fun, so go drive a Jeep.
– Your e-mail subject lines should include the customer and a benefit for them. A good example is “You can save 50 percent on airfare”. The call to action is for the reader is to open the e-mail so he or she can learn more about how “You” can save money on airfare.
– Sales people need to focus their presentations on the customers’ needs and desires. Product pitches are dead. Put away the PowerPoint presentations and canned pitches. The customers want to talk about their needs and issues. Shut up and listen.
– Advertising must include the customer. Apple very cleverly had a dancing silhouette of an iPod user dancing to the music. Yes, that is you have a great time spending $300 on a MP3 player.
– Public relations efforts should focus on stories of successful customer engagements and not about your new product announcements or new technologies. Human interest stories get read, while company announcements get trashed or deleted.
It is all about them and not about you.
John Bradley Jackson
© Copyright 2006 All rights reserved
John,
this is another good one. thanks for thinking of me with your freind that does the chair mats.
Scott Olpin
Olpin Group
Scott,
Always thinking about “you” if you catch my drift?
JJ