Why Your Marketing Message is Critical
I believe your marketing message is the most important aspect of your marketing. If you don’t have the “right” marketing message for your business and your intended customer, then everything else you do is compromised. If your marketing message is weak, unclear or poorly crafted, then it doesn’t matter what specific marketing tactics you use…your prospects and customers won’t take notice. Your marketing message forms the core of all of your offerings. Once you have crafted the marketing message - who you are, what you stand for, what solution you offer, the benefits people get from you - then you can create any and all of your products, services and marketing from this message.
A clear marketing message also helps your customers, associates, friends, family and vendors refer your business to others. When people are happy with a company or product, they like to talk about it. But if they are confused about what you do, it makes it hard to successfully spread the word about you.
Another benefit to having a compelling and clear marketing message is that it will be easier to facilitate business relationships such as joint ventures, strategic alliances and affiliate programs. When people understand precisely what you are offering and why, then it makes it simple to decide whether or not to join forces with you. What happens if you have a lousy marketing message? Most problems with marketing and attracting clients can usually be boiled down in some part to your marketing message. If your message is unclear, addresses the wrong problems and issues of your target group, uses words that don’t resonate with your prospects, doesn’t outline what your benefits are, offers the “wrong” solution and so on, then all your marketing and sales efforts are hampered.
For example, if people come to your website and the landing page doesn’t make it obvious what problems or issues you solve for what group of people, then they will quickly click away. This means they don’t get a chance to see what kinds of products and services you have that could really be of use to them - so both of you lose. Or you send direct mail brochures that talk all about you and your company but fail to state exactly what solutions your service guarantees, then your glossy marketing materials will get instantly tossed in the recycling bin. It didn’t make a connection with the person - it didn’t “speak” to them specifically. Think of your marketing message as a key. If you have the right one, it will help you unlock doors to new prospects, happier clients and more profitable and successful business relationships. If you have the wrong key or no key at all, then you’ll be locked out on the step, where you’ll have lots of time to ponder why your business isn’t growing!
B2B Doesn’t Have To Be Boring2Boring.
I subscribe to Advertising Age, a leading publication regarding all things marketing and design related for Advertising Agencies and other related industries. There was an excellent video blog I’d like to share, and I encourage all to watch it.
I must warn you, the blogger has a thick accent but if you can get past it, the information he has is very good for all those who advertise business to business.
Why is B2B Business Branding So Boring?
How To Define Your Core Marketing Objective
There are a million reasons why your business needs to add a blog to it’s website. Here are the five reasons I feel are most important.
- Content
- Customer interaction
- Branding
- Authority
- Traffic
Website content: Content is king, I’m sure you’ve heard this catch phrase. It’s plastered on every consulting site on the web. But it is true. Your website needs frequent additions of fresh, unique content for several different reasons.
The search engines are looking for new content additions to your website, so when the search spiders find constant new content on your site, they often ‘fall in love’ with it. Coming back again and again. Taking you higher and higher in the search rankings.
Customer interaction: Your customers and potential customers are looking at your and your company with a magnifying glass. They need assurance to buy your product or service. They need to know that they have a place to come after they’ve made their purchase for support.
Having a blog that is current is a psychological soother to these would be buyers because they want to know that they have a place to come if they need help or have a problem. They want to see that you are available to them. A blog can give them that feeling they need to become a customer. It can help them make buying decisions.
Branding: The more you write about your products and services on your business blog, the more you tie in your brand names with the proper keywords associated with whatever it is you sell. With a new company, or a lesser known company, most of your potential users do not search for your brand name. In order to change that, you need to associate the actual words they DO in fact search for with your company or brand name/names.
As your company blog grows over time, more and more brand recognition comes to your company.
Almost like magic.
Authority: There are very few products or services sold on the internet that are competitor free. Your company most likely has competition, and you need to set yourself apart from the rest. By becoming the expert, your company consistently stands out from the crowd.
One of the things I hear often from my new clients is that when they were searching for someone to handle their SEO, website design, or other services that we offer, my company and my name ‘just kept popping up’… It’s because I write a lot and my company blogs are all over the search engines for the services we provide.
Having a corporate blog is one way you can set yourself apart from your competition. People generally want to deal with the very best in a given field or for a specific product or service. So BE the best. Be the authority.
Traffic: Website traffic is a must. In order to survive, your company website needs visitors. It needs web traffic. Blog posting is one way to generate that much needed traffic. The more you blog, the more your site saturates the search engine result pages. The more your business saturates the SERP’s the more traffic your site receives. The more traffic your website receives, the more sales your company makes. It’s simple, cheap, and extremely effective.
Like I said, there are a million other reasons your business website needs a blog and needs it now. You need an edge to compete on the internet today.
A blog for your website is that edge your company needs.
