Your marketing messaging most likely goes into great detail about how great your company is, how many years you’ve been in business, your fantastic products and how much your customers love you. But have you ever stopped to consider who really cares?
The answer is just about nobody. Potential customers coming to your website or reading your emails and other marketing items really don’t care about your company or your history. They care about what’s available from you that’s of value to them. The question every potential customer is asking when they consume your marketing is “What’s in it for me?” In order to grab readers’ attention and create a truly effective marketing campaign, your messaging shouldn’t be about you at all — it should be all about your customers and the value you can bring them.
To develop effective marketing messaging that puts your customers first, consider these tips.
Customers Come First
To start, take a look at your own website, and count how many paragraphs begin with either your company’s name or any of the words “We,” “Our,” “I” or any other expression of yourself. The smaller that number, the better you’re doing!
Take each of those paragraphs that begin with you and rewrite them to begin with your customer. Instead of “We have products you’ll like,” try “You’ll like the products we have.” Instead of “Our first priority is our customer,” try “Our customer is our first priority.”
Once you’ve flipped around all the marketing messaging in your website’s paragraphs, take a look at your competition’s website. Think about how much more effective their content would be if their sentences didn’t begin by referring to their company. You’ll feel the difference immediately. So will your customers.
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Customers Also Come Last
While your customer should always come first in your marketing messaging, they should also come last. Every marketing piece you create must end with a strong, easily accomplished customer CTA, such as “Click here for more,” “Call us at … ,” or “Simply reply to this email.”
All marketing is part of a chain of events that keeps customers moving inward toward you. Without a CTA, that chain breaks.
Know the Different Between Quality Writing and Effective Marketing
Many people think they compose well written and effective emails and letters. But strong writing and effective marketing are two different things.
It’s hard enough to get your targeted recipients to open your email or letter. A familiar sender name and a provocative subject line are your only two chances to get that to happen. But even those are wasted if your customers don’t read your message, and there’s a very good chance they won’t. Most readers decide whether or not to read an entire message in the few seconds it takes to read the first sentence of the first paragraph. Some may scan the bold headings to see if there’s a benefit to reading the whole thing, but generally, you need to hook them in with your first sentence. Let your readers know what value you can deliver to them right away.
Most people are taught to introduce themselves at the beginning of every email, letter or message of any kind. It’s considered “proper.” However, this doesn’t make for effective marketing messaging. Remember, it’s not about you. Who cares who you are? Who cares how grateful you are for the opportunity to propose this sale, or how much you appreciate the last meeting? Customers don’t need to hear all those things because it’s not what they value.
In the second paragraph, most people are taught to give evidence: “Here’s why I’m writing to you today” or “Here’s the value I propose to bring to your company.” Let that paragraph come first, as it illustrates your company’s value to the customer, which should always be conveyed right away.
Mobilize Your Customer-first Content
Now that you have far more compelling content, it’s time to get it in front of as many qualified prospects as possible. As a member of the Samsung Team of Empowered Partners (STEP), you have access to many of the tools needed to create and run a highly successful email campaign. This includes the Partner Marketing Hub, with a wealth of content syndication, email marketing and social syndication resources. These resources create landing pages and registrations that work for you and help ensure your marketing emails reach the right people.
Already a Samsung partner? Log in to the Hub today to access our enterprise-level marketing tools to fill your sales funnel.
