Singing rodents? Spider monkeys? It's voodoo magic

How bad is your marketing, or does it exist at all? Have you reduced yourself to making ads that involve singing rodents, spider monkeys, really bad slogans or just plain boring messages that get ignored by your clients or result in a giant YAWN. Does your marketing inspire people to action, is it memorable without being ridiculous and, most importantly, does it drive customers to your door?

Turn on the television at any given time and you will see commercials that are sometimes funny, sometimes ridiculous and sometimes bordering on the offensive. In today’s highly competitive environment, marketing has become a topic that few people understand. If you have 10 minutes and want to be entertained, do a google search for the worst marketing messages ever created and you will see thousands of results. For many companies, marketing is voodoo magic. It is a pit with no bottom that thousands of man-hours and dollars gets thrown into.

This is especially true in the service industry as many times the only thing separating two companies is price. This applies to all service industries from consulting to pool service. Marketing in the service industry is usually limited to stating what you do and how much it costs. Companies create this type of marketing, send it out into the market and pray that someone calls. Most senior executives shudder at the thought of spending hard-earned revenue for a new marketing campaign because the failure rate is so high.

This article is not intended to detail how any particular service company should create its marketing copy as that would take a far deeper understanding of your company and service offerings. This article IS intended to get you to put yourself in the customers’ shoes and see their viewpoint. It is also intended to get you to think outside the proverbial box when it comes to marketing your services.

Research, Research, Research

Before you jump headlong into creating a marketing message or launching a new campaign, it helps to understand what your market is doing and why. It seems that many industries follow a typical marketing recipe and whether the recipe is good is secondary. Companies take a cursory look at their competition’s marketing and say to themselves, “We can do this as well but cheaper.” They then write a similar message and launch the campaign, usually to dismal results. As a consumer, whether an individual or a corporation, there is nothing to distinguish one company from the other.

Your research starts with understanding your competition and how they have been successful or unsuccessful in the market. Create a list of your competition and a portfolio of their services and marketing efforts. This information can be gathered from the Web, print and many other sources. Once you have this data, look for the common things most providers miss. Take a long and detailed look at the reviews the companies get from people and companies that have used their service in the past. Many companies in similar industries unintentionally group themselves together and follow a similar marketing narrative.

Now forget everything you know about what your company provides; approach your marketing from the standpoint of the buyer. As marketers, people tend to divorce themselves from their own experiences and desires and try to create a message that will resonate with someone other than themselves. If you were buying this particular service, what would make your experience a grand one? What message would speak to you or your team? Make a list of these and rank them by importance and impact. Also make a list of what would turn you away and not purchase this service. Cross reference this list with the competition’s messages and see how many overlap.

Your best places for Inspiration

Many marketing teams at a corporate level lock themselves in a room and come up with various marketing messages which sometimes have the broader organization scratching its head and saying, “We don't do that.” In marketing, as in life, it is typically the little things that make the difference in the long run. This is true for marketing messages as well. Spend time with the rest of the organization with a focus on the people that actually deliver your service to customers. Ask them probing questions and have them detail what small, seemingly insignificant things make the difference in the field and wow customers. You will be very surprised at what you learn from your own people.

Talk with your existing happy customers. Ask them why they do business with you. Ask them what made the difference between your firm and the competition when they selected you. Most importantly, ask them what you could do differently to make them even happier and willing to recommend your company and service to everyone they meet. The answer will probably surprise you here as well. The sad truth is that many firms are afraid to ask this question of their customers because they don't know what the answers will be.

It's critical to remember that you can’t fix something if you don’t know it’s broken.

Creating a Value Proposition

Many firms take the approach that a value proposition is simply a statement of what you do. If this is your company’s approach, get ready to embrace mediocrity. Customers are buying a result not just a service. That needs to be said again: Customers are buying a result not just a service. Companies need to think about their service offering in the context of what is the valued result the customer receives from using my service. The same applies whether you are selling in a B2C environment or B2B environment. What realized value will my customers receive from the service offered.

How does your service offering makes the customer’s life easier? Help them save money, make money or propel them into their future. This exercise extends beyond the marketing team, meaning it is the job of the forward sales team to communicate this real value to the end clients. The fun part about this way of thinking about your offering is it allows many service companies to uncover additional value added services they could offer that are a natural by-product of your current offering.

Consistency is Key

The average consumer needs to see your marketing message a minimum of seven times to remember it. In today’s world, we are inundated with messages from billboards, television, phones, internet and everywhere else a company can place an ad or marketing message. The best messages, regardless of the medium, have a high level of consistency. This consistency builds an image in the customers’ minds and has the power to paint a picture. Whether this picture is a good or bad one is dependent on how well the marketing teams have done their jobs.

Remember, regardless of the medium, consistency of themessage is absolutely critical. Today’s individual and business consumers can easily research your company in an in-depth manner. If you have a direct sales force, what they tell the customers you offer needs to be backed up by the research they do. This research includes your website, social media pages, local listing, video productions and any other medium.

With regard to the various outlets, each company needs to spend time investigating areas for placing its messages where its customers gather. This includes the obvious choices such as social media sites, tradeshows, trade publications, webinars etc.

Key Rules to Understand and Follow

1. Nobody cares about you: This may be a shocking statement to some but it is true nonetheless. The audience reading your messaging or seeing your advertisement cares about one thing first: themselves. Customers are looking for the benefit to them in engaging with your firm and buying your services.
2. Know who your customers are: This information is critical to properly targeting your message. The right message to the wrong audience is wasted effort, time and money. Based on the market research you will perform, your target market should be clear.
3. Be an expert on the benefits of your service: This is inherent industry knowledge that can only be gained from years of experience in the business. This knowledge allows you to create new and interesting messaging.
4. Quality in everything you develop: This may sound like a no-brainer, but it is surprising how much poor advertising gets to the target audience. This is especially important because if you cannot create a quality marketing message, it leaves the customer to wonder about the quality of the service that will be delivered
5. Sell the benefit first, advantage second and feature last: This may seem backward, but remember that customers care first and foremost about what is in it for them. It is only after they clearly recognize the benefit to them that they can see the company standing behind that benefit.
6. Draw clear differences between you and your competition: Advertising and messaging that is “Me, Too” falls on deaf ears. Every industry has its standard way of doing things and suffers many of the same challenges. Identify how you can be different and shake up the ground rules. Just make sure you can deliver on the promises made.
7. Consistency of message: This one cannot be stressed enough. Your customers need to hear the same message across all mediums in which you advertise. This not only validates your offering but also reinforces the message and goes a long way toward building a solid brand.
8. Trust the research: Based on the market research that has been completed, design the specific company and campaign messaging focused on the specific target market segment.
9. Give it time: Once campaign messages are developed and outlets settled on. Appropriate time needs to be given to allow each campaign to run its course. A common mistake among advertisers is to pull the message before it has had a chance to sink in with the target audience.

Conclusion

There is no doubt marketing can be a financial black hole. It can give executives night sweats from the amount of money being spent while hoping for a return. With a little creative thinking, interviewing the right people and narrowing in on the value created from your service offering, your company can breathe a little easier knowing it is communicating the right message.

Understand your markets and your customer needs, value your people and customer opinions, and focus on the value created.

Kevin Decker is Vice President of Sales and Marketing for JAUST Consulting Partners, a boutique consulting firm focused on helping clients transform their businesses to achieve greater revenue growth and a better customer experience with agility, efficiency and velocity.

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