Is Anybody Listening to You?

Small businesses can instantly lift their presence and boost sales by decidedly not trying to compete with the “louder is better” trend in sales and marketing while seeking clarity and specific messages to specific targeted audiences that care to take notice.

• Narrow your niche. When you try to serve too many masters it is hard to avoid distinguishing yourself with only better service or a lower price. Not to mention that those domains are cliché, they also turn you into a commodity. You have to have more to say about your value than simply price or service – and the way to promote higher value is to narrow who it is that you are specifically valuable to then offer something that niche hasn’t seen before from other companies serving them. Hone your message into a laser sharp statement of value that will resonate with no mistake that you are not just the best, but the only provider of your brand or style of your product or service. This will require some creativity but as challenging as it might be at first, it truly leapfrogs you to the front of your market.
• Focus on advocacy, not repeat sales. Sure, getting customers to come back for more is important – but even more critical is to design your service and deliver strategies so that you overwhelm your customers with an extraordinary buying experience. Make it irresistible for your customers not to talk about you.
• Point, don’t paint. Too many marketing strategies are delivered as what I call “Hey You” strategies where marketing messages are delivered to the masses – literally painting the marketplace with a roller brush – hoping that on that one day and at that one moment prospective buyers will not only drop what they are doing to intently listen to the marketing mania, but they will then in a trance-like state take action on your invitation to buy. Bologna. It never happens. People buy when they want to buy – not when you happen to catch them at a weak moment. When you point to specific people as we have already discussed, and then direct them to exactly what and when you want them to do something – you are on your way to mastering Differentiation.

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