Small business marketing often contains a subtext, similar to one of the following: 1. Pushy – I want people to buy my stuff, and I want to them to buy it now. 2. Helpful – there’s a problem, and my product or service can solve it for you. This is how it works.
Most business owners who are in that second group, accidentally market their services, as if they were in the first group, whose marketing looks pushy or self-serving. But that’s not what the first group are like. They’re dedicated, hard-working professionals. They know what they’re doing and they genuinely want to help you. So, why does this costly confusion happen?
Misunderstood passion
When you’re eager to serve your marketplace, your passion can easily be mistaken for pushiness or selfishness. You’re ready, willing and extremely capable. However, because you really want to help, because you really want to make a difference, your motivated message can wrongly appear to be self-serving.
You can avoid this by being intentional regarding your marketing messages. Go through your marketing. But read it from the perspective of your marketplace. Think about the words you use. Make sure that everything is ‘them focused’.
Remember: every business exists in order to solve problems. Your prospective clients or customers don’t care what you want. They care about answers to their problems. Spend some time reviewing your marketing. Shift the emphasis of any self-focused material, from what you want to what they want. Show them how passionate you are about helping them. Show them you care. And make solving their problems the cornerstone of your marketing messages. Sure, pushing sales messages at people may be easy, but it’s spectacularly ineffective.
This article was sourced from: jimsmarketingblog.com
