Simplifying Your Marketing Messages

Simplifying Your Marketing Messages

Simplifying your marketing messages can help you reach a wider audience and communicate your message more effectively. Here are some approaches you can take:

1. Know your audience: Understanding your target audience is key to simplifying your marketing message. Identify their needs, preferences, and pain points to create a message that resonates with them.
2. Use clear and concise language: Use simple words and avoid technical jargon, acronyms, and industry-specific terms. Your message should be easy to understand and digest.
3. Focus on benefits: Instead of listing features, focus on the benefits of your product or service. Highlight how it can solve a problem or meet a need, and how it can make your customer’s life easier or better.
4. Use visuals: Visual aids such as images, videos, and infographics can help simplify complex messages and make them more engaging. Use visuals to illustrate your message and make it more memorable.
5. Create a clear call-to-action: Your message should have a clear and compelling call-to-action that tells your audience what you want them to do next. Use action-oriented language and make it easy for them to take the desired action.
6. Keep it consistent: Ensure that your marketing message is consistent across all channels and touchpoints. Use the same language, visuals, and tone to reinforce your message and build brand recognition.

By applying these approaches, you can simplify your marketing message and make it more effective at reaching and engaging your target audience.

SURT :  Simple – Universally – Recognisable – Truth

SURT + Brand truth = product sentence / proposition (i.e. ‘Dry babies are happy babies’)
SURT and Glaxo Smith Klein

SURT		Brand Truth		Proposition
People are frightened of disease	+	Glaxo spends the most of R&D – fighting disease	=	Glaxo is diseases’ greatest enemy

SURT and Whiskas

SURT		Brand Truth		Proposition
Cats unpredictable	+	Whiskas understands cats	=	Whiskas is your best chance of satisfying your cat

SURT and TFL (Transport for London)

SURT		Brand Truth		Proposition
Teenagers believe they can be famous one day	+	2 teenagers are killed or seriously injured everyday	=	Don’t die before you have lived

Action: Think about how you could take your complex sales issues and reduce them.

The digital native (all before 21 years of age)

10,000	hours gaming
200,000	emails and instant messages
10,000	hours on cell phone
20,000	hours watching TV
15,000	hours on the internet

I.e. the under 21 has a completely different way of thinking. ‘Their brains have literally been re-wired’.

Advertising Recall Scores Declining

Recall scores collapse (% day after recall of advertising message) across the population sample.

• 1965 – 35%
• 1974 – 25%
• 1981 – 15%
• 2000 – 8%

Therefore the only thing that can get through are brutally simple ideas – keep it simple to get it through.

Thanks to M&C Saatchi for the inspiration to this many years ago

Use EGO To Help Generate Sales

At a recent event Shaz Nawaz of AA Accountants presented a 3 letter approach that you could use as part of the sales development process .
Its a really simple approach that I thought would be worth sharing and is based on the word EGO. So lets see how to Use EGO To Help Generate Sales.

Approaches To Improve Your Sales Appointment Performance

Improve Your Sales  Appointments General Pointers

• Be prepared
• Listen (the classic 2 ears and 1 mouth use them in that ratio)
• Act on buying signals
• Talking is not selling
• Know when to stop
• Don’t be afraid to ask for the order
• Proof sources and prove it
• Demonstrations are good
• Suggestive sale – up sell and cross sell

Sales Call Fundamentals

When you go into a sales call there are typically 5 key elements

1. You should have a clear objective what you want to take out of the appointment – note this doesn’t mean that you expect to close the sale there and then
2. At the heart of any sale you need to identify and separate your prospects “wants” / “needs”. Typically one of these 3 reasons is why they want to buy something
   • Profit: They want to make money
   • Productivity: They want to become more efficient
   • Image: or sometimes considered as emotion
3. Circumstances
   • what’s the implication of purchasing
   • what’s the impact of not addressing
4. The close: gaining acceptance and / or agreeing the next step
5. The sale: whereby the customer agrees and importantly makes a payment

Handling Sales Objections

Business Is Not Rocket Science It Is Common Sense

Really Simple Factors For Success:

• Keep on doing things differently – as soon as you stay the same your competitors will catch up (and you wont be different anymore)
• Be brave
• Use common sense – its amazing how many businesses seem to lose this as soon as they reach a certain level of success
• Listen to customers
  • Keep an eye on the outside world – so many companies never seem to venture out of their ivory tower. I was amazed when I recently spoke to a marketing department of a sizable organisation who told me that they have no remit to talk to customers!!!
  • Don’t become insular
• You must keep asking questions
  • Internally question everything that you do
  • Externally question all the factors that could impact your business or provide sales opportunities
• Keep looking – is this where we want to be?
  • You must never lose sight of looking forward long term
  • Equally you must not lose sight of what is going on at the current moment
• Get things done – procrastination will result in missed opportunities
• Consider what do we have to achieve rather than what budget have we got
• Differentiate between leadership and management
  • Leadership – doing the right things (making it all happen)
  • Management – doing things right (priorities)
• The issue of FEAR (False Evidence Appearing Real)
  • • • Therefore just take positive steps
      • Different people helping you wrestle with the instinctive and the analytical, providing you with a blend to help you fix
      • Don’t be hypocritical

A 5 Point Marketing Mantra For Those With Consumers

If you are selling products or services to end users this mantra from the grocery convenience sector may feature some elements that could and should be included in your business activities.

A 5 Point Marketing Mantra For Those With Consumers includes these 5 simple rules allow you to communicate consistently from the shop floor to the board the principles of the business.

Marketing mantra 5 principles

Fresh: The products that you offer must be fresh. So for a food store this should be obvious the items must be of a quality that makes you want to pick them from the shelf.

• • • For other companies though how recent and relevant is your product range.
    • Has it changed in the last 5 years?
    • Does it look tired and unattractive?
    • When I walk into your reception do I receive a Wow or a dohh impression.

Full: What is your stock availability. If you go into a major supermarket to buy an item and the brand / product you normally choose is out of stock, there is likely to be an alternative option on the shelf.

• • • In your business what is your availability.
    • Can I get immediate supply, is there a lead time?
    • Does having a really long lead time in order to be able to supply help or hinder you. i.e. we are so busy and provide such a good product that you will have to wait 48 weeks if you want our product!

Fair Price: Price does not mean you need to be the cheapest as its just one of the ingredients in the buying decision.

• • • When people mention price they actually mean value.
    • Value is defined as the benefits I receive for the burdens I endure. Good value = Price + Benefits
    • Importantly different circumstances will impact on how much a person will pay
      • Is it a distress purchase
      • Are you buying for a treat
      • Either way you may need it now and be prepared to pay a premium price for the goods

Fast Service: Now fast service doesn’t have to mean poor or substandard service. An example of great fast service includes

• • • Making it simple for people to buy. You have possibly seen or purchased a “Meal Deal” from one of the supermarkets or multiple retailers. In the majority of cases these worked on the basis that the cheapest item was free. So with a range of sandwiches with a variety of prices etc it could be difficult for a customer to actually purchase (thus slowing down selection and creating queues ). By changing the offer to a fixed price £3 meal deal, simplified the offer, made it easier to purchase and ultimately significantly increased sales.

Friendly: an extremely simple approach to create a friendly environment is “having your customer face staff smile”

• • • Where sales staff make eye contact. Have you ever noticed that when you are stuck in a queue, often the sales assistant or bar tender doesnt make eye contact. Those who aspire to a fast service will have sales staff who make eye contact and apologise if you have kept them waiting then ” I’m sorry we are busy”.
    • Ultimately if you are trying to make repeat sales you may benefit from
      • Gaining the name of your customer
      • Engaging in conversations
      • Building a relationship
        • • • which will hopefully create some customer loyalty

The Benefits of Simplifying your marketing messages

Simplifying your marketing messages can have a significant impact on the success of your business. By reducing the complexity of your messaging, you can make it more accessible to your target audience, and more effectively communicate the value of your product or service. Here are five key benefits of simplifying your marketing messages:

Firstly, simplified marketing messages are more accessible to a wider audience. When you use simple language and avoid jargon and complex terminology, you can appeal to a broader audience, including those who may not have a deep understanding of your industry. This can help you reach new customers, increase brand awareness, and ultimately, drive sales.

Secondly, simplified marketing messages can help build trust and credibility with your audience. By using clear and concise language, you can demonstrate that you understand your customers’ needs and can provide them with solutions that are easy to understand and implement. This can help build trust and credibility, and ultimately, drive customer loyalty and advocacy.

Thirdly, simplified marketing messages can help you stand out in a crowded marketplace. In a world where consumers are bombarded with marketing messages at every turn, simplicity can be a powerful differentiator. By using language and visuals that are easy to understand and memorable, you can help your brand stand out in a crowded marketplace and be more memorable to your target audience.

Fourthly, simplified marketing messages can help you more effectively communicate your value proposition. When you focus on the benefits of your product or service, rather than its features, you can more effectively communicate the unique value that you provide to your customers. This can help differentiate you from your competitors and make it more likely that customers will choose your brand over others.

Finally, simplified marketing messages can help you achieve better ROI from your marketing efforts. When your messaging is clear, concise, and resonates with your target audience, you can more effectively use your marketing budget and achieve better results. This can help you reduce costs, increase conversions, and ultimately, grow your business.

For more information on simplifying your marketing messages click here for more information. To talk to a professional marketing and sales expert click here