Your Business is a Cereal Box: Attract, then Inform

Author : Cristina Favreau

Cereal manufacturers know how to grab your attention: bright colours, simple and compelling messages (“Source of 5 essential nutrients!!!”), catchy headlines. What about the ingredient list with all the nutritional information? That’s on the side; easily found, but obviously secondary.

The lesson: Ingredient lists don’t sell cereal. Look at your business features as you would the nutritional information on a cereal box: people only look at it when they are already considering buying the box. It displays important information that needs to be communicated, but it does not answer the first questions in the client’s mind.

For service providers, marketing is a challenge: you know your service is useful and has value, but because you don’t have a physical product, the benefits may be harder to define. After all, your client will only experience what you do once they actually hire you, which they won’t do if the benefits of using your services are not convincing.

How will you, as a service professional, deal with this fact? You must communicate with your clients by being focused on their needs first.

Attract, then Inform
I notice that many of my clients put too much emphasis on what they do instead of emphasizing why their audience should choose them over the competition — or choose them at all.

Note these claims:

* We offer a 90-day guarantee
* I have over 15 years experience in my field of expertise
* I give 10% off all first-time buyers
* We’ll set you a free e-mail account when you purchase our 1-year plan.
* I’ll send you my 20-page report when you sign up for my newsletter
* My office is fully equipped to fill your needs.
* I’ve done research in this field and found…
* I am a member of these organizations: …


What’s wrong with these claims? Absolutely nothing, if they are true. In fact, these are features your clients should be aware of. They are part of what you are offering (the “what” of your business), but they are independent of your clients and their personal concerns.

Benefits are effective in attracting people because they speak to what they can gain personally. Once you have their attention, then you can enhance your selling proposition with features. Features can close a sale, but they will usually not be your client’s first point of entry.

Your benefits should:

* Show the value of your services,
* Tell your audience what problems you will solve, and
* Describe what they stand to gain by doing business with you


I vs. You
In the features list above, notice how many times “I”, “we”, “our”, “my”, and “me” are used. People are naturally concerned with their own needs first. By presenting them with a list of reasons why you are so great, you are sending them the wrong message: that their needs are secondary to what you think they should know. Don’t make the mistake of turning your marketing into a giant résumé of your accomplishments. Use words like “you” and “your” more often.

Be your own client
What do your clients look for? Try a little role playing: Pretend you are your own prospective client and objectively evaluate your communication material.

Ask yourself: Would I buy from myself? What would keep me interested? What am I looking for? What do I really want?

Learn from how you search the web: If you were looking for administrative help, would you be searching Google for “15 years of experience”? Probably not. You would be more likely to search for terms like “database entry” or “transcription services”. If that’s what you look for, chances are most of your clients will do the same. Give them what they want and organize your information accordingly.

As you create any communication material, answer these questions:

* What is the value of my service?
* What distinct problem will my service solve?
* What will my client gain?
* What does my client stand to lose by not using my service?
* How will my client feel after buying/using my service?
* What pain will it take away?
* What goal will my client achieve?
* What desire does it fulfill?


The answer may be different for each target market, so it is important to know who your prospective clients are before asking yourself these questions.

Being completely objective about your own business is not easy; you’ve worked hard to build it and you know it inside out. Defining your benefits from an outside perspective can enable you to better understand how other people view your business. Getting a view of your own “big picture” is something a professional business coach can help you achieve.

Whether you do it alone or get outside help, it never hurts to think about what you have to offer to potential clients. So, next time you’re at the grocery store, stop by the cereal aisle and ask yourself: “What are MY 5 essential nutrients?”

Source : http://www.virtual-professionals.com/best-marketing-tips/your-business-is-a-cereal-box-attract-then-inform.html
Copyright. Cristina Favreau. All rights reserved.