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Ken!
How to Create a Powerful Personal Marketing Message
By John Jantsch
Try this exercise to help you develop a personal marketing message
that grabs your prospect's attention.
Quite often small business
owners will ask me to reveal the most powerful marketing strategy I
have seen. I can say without hesitation that the most powerful
marketing strategy has little to do with advertising, direct mail,
websites, referrals or blogs.
No, before any of those things will really have an impact on your
business, you've got to uncover and communicate how your business is
different from every other business that says they do what you do.
You've got to get out of the commodity business. You've got to stake
your claim on a simple idea or position in the mind of your
prospective clients.
You've got to create and bring to life a powerful personal
marketing message.
The following is an exercise that I have developed that allows you
to find your message by focusing on creating a marketing based
answer to one very important question.
And the question is: What do you do for a living? The answer to that
question is something that I call "Your Talking Logo."
Like a traditional printed logo, a talking logo is a tool that
allows your firm to communicate verbally the single greatest benefit
of doing business with your firm. A talking logo is a short
statement that quickly communicates your firm's position and forces
the listener to want to know more.
The talking logo is generally played in response to the comment,
"So, tell me about your firm or tell me what you do." Everyone has
attended a networking event or Chamber of Commerce breakfast where
you are given a minute to describe your firm...another great place
to use your talking logo. When it comes to referral marketing, the
talking logo is how you communicate the value of your firm to
referral sources.
How do you create your talking logo?
Remember, a talking logo must be a short statement that leaves the
listener wanting to know more. Think about your clients or potential
clients ... they want to know what's in it for them. Don't just tell
them what your firm does- tell them in a way that matters to them.
"I'm in the insurance business." "I'm a registered architect." "I'm
a painting contractor." "I'm a computer repair specialist." The only
thing this type of response will get you is, "Who cares?" or worse.
A talking logo grabs your prospect's attention.
Your talking logo is created in two distinct parts. Part 1 addresses
your target market, and Part 2 zeroes in on a problem, frustration
or want that market has.
You know you have a great talking logo when a person hears you
deliver it and immediately says, "Really, how do you do that?"
"So, if you ask Bill the architect, "what do you do for a living?"
Which do you think is more powerful? "Oh, I'm a registered
architect" or [Talking Logo] "I show contractors how to get paid
faster."
Now if you're a contractor you've got to know more, right? In the
example above Bill has focused on addressing a key frustration that
he knows contractors (his target market) have.
What about this one? "I show small service professionals how to
triple what they charge?"
Do you see a pattern?
Here's the pattern: Action verb, (I show, I teach, I help) target
market, (business owners, homeowners, teachers, divorced women,
Fortune 500 companies) how to xxxx = solve a problem or meet a need
that you know your marketing has.
Now ask yourself, "Who wouldn't want to know more when you heard a
talking logo that spoke directly to you?" Communicating a powerful
message like this will get you referral appointments too.
Now, once you get their attention with your talking logo answer to
what you do for a living, it's time to deliver the goods.
So, now they utter, "Really, how do you do that?"
You must be equally prepared to answer this supplemental question.
Once your prospect says, "Tell me more," you need Part 2, and that
is when you tell them how you plan to solve their problem.
The key to this tool though, is waiting until you have their full
attention with your talking logo.
Part 2: Again, the architect from above - "Well, we
have developed relationships with every zoning board in the metro
area and can make sure that your projects don't get hung up by red
tape, ensuring that you get to that first pay request faster."
By understanding your positioning and your target market and then
communicating it through your talking logo, you will be miles ahead
of most of your competition and well on your way to generating
referrals and leads from anyone you meet.
~ ~ ~
John Jantsch is a veteran marketing coach, award winning blogger and
author of Duct Tape Marketing: The World's Most Practical Small
Business Marketing Guide published by Thomas Nelson - due out
in the fall of 2006
He is the creator of the Duct Tape Marketing small business
marketing system. You can find more information by visiting
http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/