When speaking to your target market, be careful with your tone and word choice. You want to attract them to your offerings and encourage them to take the next step. Many marketers bombard visitors with information and special offers that actually offend the intended audience, causing them to look for alternatives.
To be successful, your main message must clearly communicate how your offerings will make the visitor’s life easier. The content should focus on solving their problems. It should not include an exhaustive list of features and details of the company history.
Focus on problem-solving
One example of an effective problem-solving campaign began during the early stages of the nutrition awareness trend that has now become a prominent media theme. Subway spokesman Jared Fogle had successfully lost 245 lbs. by independently deciding to switch from a diet of fast food to low-fat selections from Subway. The story was reported in the local press and then brought to the attention of Subway. The extensive advertising campaign that resulted doubled Subway’s sales to $8.2 billion according to Advertising Age (here). The campaign captured the attention of health conscious consumers and provided an attractive alternative to the offerings of competitors.
Cater to your target audience
When drafting your message, your objective should be to create a connection with your audience. If you were speaking to your neighborhood VFW lodge, graduating high school seniors or your relatives at Thanksgiving dinner, you would need to frame the tone, language, length, and especially the content to their likes, dislikes and overall lifestyle. This element is crucial to your success.
Present the best choice
Now that you have identified a solution for your customer’s problem, and considered the qualities that will create a connection with them, you need to introduce the specific benefits that your unique offering provides. This cements the connection between your connected audience and your problem-solving proposition. Leaning toward succinct rather than verbose, the ideal message blends these objectives in a way that is indistinguishable to the reader.
What’s next
Once you’ve crafted your message to capture the appeal of your audience, you need to explicitly spell out what they should do next. Include a phone number, email address, contact form, chat pop-up, or any other method of communication that is effective. The primary objective is to increase revenue. Providing prominent suggestions for next steps is the most effective way to persuade someone to become a client.
Start a conversation
In addition to your primary marketing message, many businesses also provide visitors with additional information that is of value. You can do this through regular blog posts or by hosting a forum where visitors exchange ideas related to your industry. Some other options include hosting webinars that provide tips and insights, or providing downloadable documents such as checklists, white papers, or e-books on helpful topics.
In these communications, it is best to keep the focus on sharing information and far away from a request for purchase. If you establish your business as a place to go for the best information and most valuable insights, you will be considered a thought leader in the industry and therefore the preferred choice for purchase.
It’s not what you say but how you say it.
Your message cannot just be a listing of product features with a price tag and ‘buy now’ button. To be effective, your message must create a connection with your specific audience, communicate how your offering solves a problem, and ever-so-carefully suggest the next steps that will convert your visitor into a customer.