Who are Your Marketing Communications Talking to?

Aug 19 2009

Who are Your Marketing Communications Talking to?

Posted by: Cheryl Clausen in marketing, tags: marketing communications, sales marketing coaching

No matter what service you’re selling there are different potential buyers for your services. This is true for every product or service. To make my point let’s look at something as mundane and simple as a can of tuna.

You can buy a can of regular tuna for under $1. You can buy a can of white albacore tuna for about $2. You can buy a can of organic white tuna for around $5. Those 3 cans of tuna represent 3 entirely different groups of buyers with 3 entirely different points of view.

In your business you could say the $1 tuna buyers represent desperate buyers. There are far more desperate buyers than other types of buyers. These are the people who need your services the most. They stand to gain the most from what you have to offer.

If you are like most business owners you truly want to help these buyers. It breaks your heart to see their pain and suffering especially when you know that pain and suffering is needless.

The problem is those desperate buyers don’t see things the same way you do. Plus they tend to seek quick fixes and instant solutions in an effort to get themselves out of desperation.

Their fears make it nearly impossible for them to invest in your services. When they do make that scary decision to use your services (from their perspective) they rarely achieve the results they could or should because their fears prevent them from taking the actions they need to take. When they do take actions they are likely to act in a helter-skelter unfocused way because they are desperately trying to find that instant fix. Due to their near panic they don’t get the results they should because they aren’t focused on the right things.

The $2 tuna buyers represent the “squishy middle”. This is a large group of potential buyers who range from nearly desperate to mostly satisfied to those looking to take things to the next level. You can’t help the nearly desperate or the mostly satisfied because they lack the commitment to take the focused actions required to get the most from your services. You can help those looking to take things to the next level. You want your communications to slice those potential buyers from the “squishy middle” and move them into the last group.

The final group is the $5 tuna buyers. These buyers represent the movers. By most standards these buyers are already doing well; however, they know they can do better and they are looking for opportunities to get even better results than they are now. These are your best potential buyers. They will get the best results and the greatest value from your services because they have the commitment to follow through on the actions they need to take to get the most value and benefit from your services.

The movers and looking to move are your best potential buyers even though they represent the smallest section in your world of potential buyers. They are the easiest to work with and the easiest to sell. They get the most value and best results.

Because each set of buyers has an entirely different perspective your marketing communications must be tailored to the specific buyers you want. The language they use and respond to is very different. One of the easiest ways for you to find out how they talk about the things they want, and what they need to hear is to look at the books and magazines geared to those buyers. A trip to your local librairy or bookstore can help you see who your marketing communications are really talking to.

You’ll notice the desperate buyers respond to things that save, promise instant fixes, and cost the least.

The “squishy middle” is only approachable from the nearly desperate and looking to move up ends because the rest are satisfied and unlikely to do anything. They lack the motivation to take action and you can’t force it.

The movers respond to things that help them gain and grow. They understand they need effective systems and strategies for long-term success. They are less focused on price and more focused on the potential value they stand to gain.

So set aside some time to review your marketing communications. Listen with new ears and see with new eyes.

Who are you talking to?

If you aren’t talking to the potential buyers you want then adapt your communications to better fit the message they need to hear to want to learn more how you could help them.

photo credit: Julien Menichini

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 19th, 2009 at 6:00 am and is filed under marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.