It’s Not About You...
Four Ways to Make You More Interesting.
A few years back, I was sitting with an audience of 2000. It was my friend’s graduation night. This rite of passage was hers for the keeping.
I knew how excited she was to throw that hat up in the air and celebrate the fact that the last few years of continuous and very tedious study were coming to an end. As is the case in any awards night, a speaker got up to talk.
His words should have inspired every person in that room and excited us for the future. His words should have made anyone excited about what was being achieved. These next 20 minutes had the opportunity to bring anyone back to study all over again and spend tens of thousands of dollars because he was tasked with driving into us, a burning passion for what has been done and what can be done in the future by us and us alone.
Instead, those next 20 minutes have been forgotten.
There was no passion, drive, or excitement.
Instead, I listened to this man tell me how glorious the education was.
He explained how much effort they put in to get people to where they were.
How much time was allocated and how good a school it was because it creates highly driven and educated individuals.
Rather than celebrating the graduates, he was celebrating the school. While none of this was a lie, the school was, in fact, very good and saw some brilliant minds pass through its walls, but those brilliant minds are unlikely to go back after that ceremony.
If I am to dissect what happened that night, it's this… Imagine you are with a friend for a drink to celebrate your new business expansion that has been a huge hit. This friend buys you a drink, you sit down and then they go and ramble on about how they helped you get to where you are.
Sure they may have pitched in a little but the elbow grease and sleepless nights were yours and you just wanted that one moment to celebrate the fact that you did it and it's a success. The speaker of the graduation was that friend and anyone in that room was the one that needed the moment of recognition.
So why am I telling you about this particular graduation?
We often talk too much about ourselves.
When you market, do you talk too much about your business?
Here’s the thing… that's not going to sell anything just like that speaker was not selling the school.
Here are four ways you can transform your marketing into something much more interesting for your customers.
Give them a break
What can you do to give your customers a break? Can you pick up any slack? Is it free money? Is it more personal time? Is it a faster service?
For example, here at Business Abundance, we know that by hiring us, our clients save a huge amount of money on graphic design and social media hiring while benefiting from more clients and increased brand exposure. The opportunity is this... you save time along with thousands of dollars while we help you grow your business.
Make the opportunity for your customers obvious. Place it on a billboard, at the forefront of your social media campaigns, or on the front of your flyers.
Customers need to know what makes you better than your competition.
Offer results that make sense
Statistics make sense. And so does really obvious results.
Customers want easy-to-read content so instead of confusing them with paragraphs on why brick is better than weatherboard, make an infographic outlining 3 statistics why.
Include an infographic about why brick is better than weatherboard.
You can’t assume that the audience knows just as much as you do about a topic. Keep it simple. Give them facts that are simple, digestible, and just make sense.
Solve their problems
Some business owners that manage work schedules for casual employees are still using Excel or even paper.
It’s obviously ineffective and often causes a lot of mistakes.
A company called When I Work has figured this out. Now their whole company and marketing campaign is based on solving that problem for customers and the best part is that customers know that too. They know exactly what they are getting and which problem it is solving. Instead of telling customers how they are doing it and why that’s so good, they are outlining the problem and then a solution. It’s that simple and it’s working.
What’s in it for me?
If these three tips don't quite make sense, start here… Use ‘You’ instead of ‘We’. This small change will mean that you are talking to your customer and less about you.
You are nothing without your customers. Please don’t forget that. I know changing your mindset to become customer-focused is a big challenge. Sometimes it feels unnatural and uncomfortable. Remember, your business is here to improve your customers' condition.
The positive is that your customers will become a lot more receptive to you and your business. It is very likely to increase customer satisfaction and brand loyalty because customers know exactly what they are getting from you. Don’t underestimate the importance of your customers. It’s a great life lesson as well as professional.
Don’t forget, the world doesn’t always revolve around you...
