This is the first part of a series on developing your marketing plan. The right marketing starts with putting together the best, most promotable message possible that truthfully represents “the goods” you’ve got.
Cavett Robert, who was a professional speaker, gave this harsh but good marketing advice:
“Don’t be in too much of a hurry to promote, until you get good. Otherwise you just speed up the rate at which the world finds out you’re no good.”
Only the strong survive and the strongest prosper
An exercise you can do to improve the marketing for your particular business niche, whether planned or present, is to Google and Bing search your type of business niche and look at the marketing words and phrases used in the top 20 search results.
Write down from each advertiser the following info in a notepad as a part of your research process
- promise
- feature
- benefit
- statement
If you find a similar statement in the next advertiser’s ad, put a tick mark. Do this each time you see the same statement appearing in your top 20 search results.
If you see different statements in any of the ads, add it to your list, and tick mark them the number of times it occurs in other ads. There are two reasons for doing this exercise.
First, both Google and Bing search engines are the most competitive, toughest advertising arena there is. Ads are either above or below each other presenting messages simultaneously to the same prospective customer.
Second, by checking the ticks for similar statements will visually reveal one astounding fact i.e. everybody is saying the same thing. Delivering the same message.
Be Original and avoid me-tooism
In the last exercise although everybody is doing the same thing, it is definitely the wrong approach if you want exceptional success or dominance in your niche.
The key to the vault in marketing is a message that differentiates you from all of your competitors in a positive, appealing, preferably compelling way. In marketing lingo this is called your ‘Unique Selling Proposition (USP).’
Your USP does a number of things
Firstly, it is a way of explaining your position against your competition; your promise to your customer.
Secondly, it summarizes and telegraphs one of the chief benefits of your business, product or service being marketed.
Finally, your USP may express the ‘theme’ of your business, product, or service. Which means it can be based on just about anything: price, product ingredient, positioning, color, size, scent, celebrity endorsement, location, hours of operation, etc.. What were the USPs of the other businesses in your search results?
You must become USP-sensitive for your business. Learn quickly about what your competition is doing to hone your marketing mind.
How to improve your marketing mind
Ask these questions about every business, product, and service you encounter in your daily activities:
- Does this business have a USP?
- If not, can I think of one for it?
- If so, is there a way I can think of to improve it?
- Is there any idea here I can ‘steal’ for my use?
It is worth working on the invention of a strong USP for your product, service, or business.
One of the best and most profitable USPs was, “Fresh, hot pizza delivered in 30 minutes or less, guaranteed.” by Domino’s!
Other products with USP power are:
- Microwavable dinners for kids to make for themselves
- Clarion Cosmetics’ “computer,” which tells you which colors are right for you
- Luzianne iced-tea bags
- A stress management seminar for career women
- A shampoo and conditioner for “swimmer’s hair”
In a future post we will look at your USP from the customer’s perspective as it relates to your marketing message.
With email marketing, promoting your business, building an audience, and connecting with customers becomes a whole lot easier. You can check out my previous post HOW WILL EMAIL MARKETING HELP ME?
Take advantage and access this free guide that gives you the foundation you need to build your email list, connect with your audience, and grow your business. Access your free guide HERE
Please subscribe to my YouTube Channel for tutorials and Facebook
Feature Photo by Mimi Thian, Donald Giannatti on Unsplash