Identity crisis. Can you describe your business in under a minute?
Before embarking on any marketing planning and strategy development, it’s always important to be able to define a few key areas early on:
- Who you are
- What you do
- Why you’re different
It sounds so basic yet, many businesses find it hard to articulate the above, or deliver a consistent message on these areas. Simply put, these are the three key areas that should form the basis of your marketing communications.
…Being able to articulate answers to the above concisely is a bonus.
Let’s look at the three areas and try to break down what they’re aiming to define.
Who you are. This aims to identify what your business represents and the space that you conduct your business in.
Your aim should be to identify and convey general information about your business to the people who make the decision on purchasing your specific product or service.
If your ‘description’ is bogged down in paragraphs of text explaining ALL you do in detail, most customers will find this daunting to review and will ultimately disengage.
What you do. So, what industry are you in? What kinds of products or services to do represent? What do you have to offer a customer?
Aim to answer these questions while also thinking about what your customers’ problems are. If your products or services address a fundamental issue that is common among your target audience, you will have a higher likelihood of engagement.
Regardless of your industry, always consider the “pain point or issue” that you are solving for customers and promote the answer you are delivering.
Why you’re different. It’s important for you to know what’s great about your offering by identifying what makes you stand out from the crowd.
Define: What makes you better than the others? What do you do, or what do you offer, that positions you a little differently from other businesses?
If you can’t think of any points of difference that make you a better choice over your competitors, then you had better start examining what you’re doing and how you can deliver a point of difference.
Make sure that your staff can answers these three areas too! When they answer the phone or encounter potential customers in a social setting, this is a simple way to instill a positive company culture and promote your business.
If you can answer these three questions, it will make creating, editing and updating your marketing (print, online, other) much easier. Always aim to describe yourself in terms of how your target audience would think of you. Use their terminology and language, and aim to deliver a clear message about who you are, what you do and why you’re different.
Having trouble communicating these three areas? Contact The Marketing Box – we are always happy to help.
