brandknewmag.com
40
Ideally, your visual and verbal promises should align and
lead to where the rubber hits the road: experience. In other
words, once you’ve promised me, the potential customer or
client, something verbally and visually, does the experience
match that promise? If everything about you screams highend luxury, is that what I’m going to get? Will I get innovative
and cutting-edge if you don’t spend wisely on R&D?
The biggest gap for many organizations is getting the
messaging (verbal) component right. They tend to either
mimic their competition or speak in an inconsistent way. How
can you convey messages that attract the right buyers, speak
to their buying drivers and needs effectively--and, even more
so, enable you to stand out in a crowded marketplace? The
goal of the brand-building game is to get prospects to know,
like, and trust you so that when the need for your product or
service arises—when they are most ready to buy—they think
of you first. Messaging can make or break that relationship.
Here are three tips to consider when crafting messaging so
you can pique interest, create a relationship, and stand out
from your competition.
1. Paint a picture
Too many companies get caught up in talking about they
do, sell, offer, or provide. They dazzle prospects with talk of
whiz-bang features or a laundry list of services. But customers
don’t care about you. They care about what’s in it for them:
How does your product or service make my life better, my
family safer, my body healthier, my business more successful,
my job easier, or my bottom line bigger?
Lead with benefits from the customer’s point of view, not just
bragging about features. If they have to ask, “What does that
do for me?” then you have not landed on the benefit yet. I
like to play a little game with my clients called “So what?”
For every supposed “benefit” they cite, I continue probing
with the question, “So why does that matter to them?” until
we finally land on the true benefit. Amazingly, they often go
from starting the sentence with “We offer” to “You get,” and
that’s how you know you’re there.
Create a vision for what life or work will be like when they use
your product