Business Messaging - Keep it Simple

Most business owners have had this experience: a great offering that they struggle to sell.

The natural response is to provide more information to your target customer so they can understand why they need it.

Why is this approach wrong, wrong, wrong?

Your business is the centre of your world, however it is almost always going to be peripheral to the world of your customers.  They have busy lives with many things to deal with, most having nothing to do with you or your offering.

More often than not they are after just enough information (and no more) to be able to satisfy their need at that moment in time.  Anything beyond this is likely to convince them that it’s too hard to do business with you.

So how to do it right?

Rather than trying to communicate everything, understand the one or two most important things to your target customer that can be delivered by your product.  Focus on this in all of your communications - advertising, emails, phone calls, meetings, and any other touch points.

It is likely to feel unnatural and overly repetitive, but the reality is that your customers will only remember one thing about you anyway (if you’re lucky).  If you try to communicate too much, they won’t remember any of it.

In practice this can be a challenge - your customers’ priorities are likely quite different from what you think.  Get their feedback, observe what they do, understand their motivations, challenges, fears and desires.

Then, focus on that one thing with a dogged persistence and discipline to the exclusion of all else.

This is an article for Business Blindspots Tasmania. To ensure you receive our regular updates from expert business advisers across a range of areas follow our LinkedIn group.