Published
October 6, 2003
“That was a Talbot’s ad?”
My wife received a very odd and very expensive piece of mail a few days ago.
I know it was expensive, because first class postage, heavy cardstock, and full color photographic printing don’t come cheap these days. I knew it was odd as soon as I saw the look on her face.
What she held in her hand – addressed to her personally – was a resort solicitation with the I’ll-bet-they-thought-irresistible offer of … a set of golf clubs. “Addressed to her personally” is a bit of a misstatement: no one who knows my wife (diva of detail, vice president of fiddly bits) would ever imagine her stalking off across a golf course. Her tools of choice are a keyboard, reference books and 2mm knitting needles. Definitely not five irons.
“This is about the third one of these I’ve gotten,” she said. “Why do they keep doing this? Imagine what they’re spending to send these things to people like me.”
Talk about missing the green on finding your target market!
It’s all too often that people receive messages – emails, snail mail, TV and radio – that miss the two critical questions that any sales and marketing machine has to constantly ask:
Who are you talking to?
What do you want them to do?
If you have an advertising budget that allows you to just throw a lot of money into interruption techniques (see our recent review of Permission Marketing by Seth Godin), then you can perhaps afford not to ask the first question. Enough whoevers and maybe the right who will hear your message. Most of the businesses I know can’t afford to be that cavalier, and none of them should be. But it takes diligent work and hard examination of your business to be able to clearly understand and state who your ideal client is and then to make them hear you.
That’s work that should happen before you spend a dime on advertising, and it has to go on every working day to keep that understanding current, clear, and vital.
So let’s say you’ve found the right ear, and you’ve cut through the twenty-first century din to connect with it. Now, what is it you want them to do?
If you’ve read this far, I’m assuming you’re engaged in some form of commerce, so the next action you want is to transact. Some very expensive efforts don’t make that clear.
Let’s take two ads you’ve probably seen as often as I have. One has a ghostly guy in a great suit and hat, the other has an attractive woman looking through a store window at a porcelain ballerina on a table.
Now the first one leaves you with no doubt about what they want you to do: buy a Buick. Harley Earl wants you to buy a Buick. Buick wants you to buy a Buick. You could be as cool as Harley if you’d just BUY A BUICK!
Clear as a bell.
The second one is appealing, tasteful; it’s even one we don’t mute at our house. But when we were talking about the two messages, my wife said, “You mean the Talbot’s ad.”
“That’s a Talbot’s ad?,” I said. Who knew?
And if your customer doesn’t know that simple thing how can they know what you want them to do?
If you’ve performed the feat of actually getting through to your ideal client, don’t irritate them with confusion or waste their time and your efforts. Give them their next action step. This may be your only chance to tell them, so spend the time and effort in advance to define exactly what it is you want them to do.
What this next action is will vary widely based on your business, but uncertainty is deadly. Do you want them to click through to purchase? Let them know that, and make it easy to do. Do you want them to set an appointment? Be ready with a choice of times. Do you want them to remember you out of the crowd at the next networking session? Be the one with a ready ear for who they are and a ready answer to why they should care who you are.
Keep asking yourself: “Who am I talking to? What do I want them to do?”
When you know, then get the message out.
Make it a great day!
JUMProductions
po box 522
arlington, tx 76004
vox 817.261.2108 fax 801.881.2717
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