The joke goes something like this. “When someone talks to himself or herself, we call them crazy but when a company talks to themselves, we call it marketing.”
Marketing works best when meaningful messaging is driving it. And it starts with a compelling story told in a clear and memorable way to potential customers who are looking for you and want to buy what you’re selling. More importantly, happy customers will refer you if you provide them with messaging that helps them do that quickly and easily. Power Brands like Apple consistently turn out great marketing because they never forget that they are talking to real people. Many companies forget that and as a result, they end up talking to themselves.
So how can you talk to your customers so they’ll hear you?
- Don’t tell me how great you are: Show Me!
Hearing how your customers have benefited from your customer service (instead of talking about how great it is) is much more meaningful and will help potential customers connect with your brand and current clients remember why they like working with you. - Talk about what matters to me. Resist the temptation to feature your new hire on your homepage or tell me how much your employees like working here. These are all good things from an internal perspective but much less effective from an external, marketing perspective.
- Customers love to read about themselves in print. And the best part is they won’t be shy about tweeting those stories—and promote the brand that puts them at the center of ‘their story’ without being asked.
We connect best to marketing that helps us see ourselves using or better yet, enjoying a product. We imagine ourselves going to foreign locations with our own iPad Air, creating music and directing a symphony and more importantly, we care. It’s a lesson worth learning.
