How you market your business can determine the success thereof. Marketing is a tool used to create and maintain demand, relevance, reputation, competition and more. Without it, your business is likely to suffer financially. In this time of crisis, this has never been truer. The following guidelines can help you ensure that your business stands out from the rest and/or are not forgotten.
Do Not Ghost Your Customers During A Time of Crisis
Do not forget to communicate with your customers at least once a week. They might forget about you or wonder why you forgot about them if you only re-emerge when the difficult times have passed.
There lies a great opportunity in a time of crisis to communicate your value in the form of practical help to your customers. You have the opportunity to create a lasting impression if you lend a helping hand now. Change your regular marketing message so that you firstly, illustrate your empathy for their situation and then your competency in what you do.
Invite Them to Be Part of The Tribe
We are all wired with a longing to be part of a tribe. Research also suggests that, despite its unpleasantness, pain may actually have positive social consequences, acting as a sort of “social glue” that fosters cohesion and solidarity within groups. The findings shed light on why camaraderie may develop between soldiers or others who share difficult and painful experiences. Remind your customers that you are in this together.
Make A Difference
The core motivation of the human heart is to make a long and lasting impact. Our first drive might be to survive but to truly thrive you need to feel that you are making a difference in the world around you. Offer your talents, passion, and skills through your products and services in such a way that you transform the lives of your customers for the better.
Follow the Success Marketing Formula
To make sure you continue your success after a time of crisis, follow the Success Marketing formula. It consists of three critical parts: Clarify, Simplify, and Amplify.
1. Clarify: A Creative Offering
Erich Fromm said, “Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainty.” In these quite uncertain times, we should have no problem being creative and break or bend the business models we use.
Be mindful of offering relevant solutions for the current situation and position yourself to be able to grow when the situation passes. Your offering should also be positioned in such a way that customers will continue to benefit from it in later times. Relook your customers’ external and internal problems and motivations to find new and relevant ideas.
Create a product roadmap to offer affordable solutions to your customer’s current situation so they will not have to let go of large survival resources. Continue to remind them of your mid-level product and onramp them to the high-end product. Customers are more likely to continue buying from the same company when a trust relationship was built.
2. Simplify your message: Tell your customer’s story
There are different ways to simplify your marketing message and still have it resonate with your ideal customer’s situation. One such a way is the Story Brand Philosophy. Here is how it works:
A great business knows:
- THE CUSTOMER is the hero of the story, not You!
- He has A PROBLEM, and
- Meets THE GUIDE, which is you,
- That gives him A PLAN, and
- LIFE IS BETTER
If you have taken the time to understand each of these elements above in relation to the “hero,” you will be able to tell a great story! Your ideal client will take notice of you when you resonate with them. Illustrating how you will solve their problem and how you intend to help them survive and thrive.
A great marketing message includes:
- Resonating with the customer
- Redefining their problem
- Acknowledging and redirecting their fears
- Call to action
- Define the transformation from failure to success
Identify with their pain and lead them out of it.
3. Amplify your message: Speak to your customer where they are
If you fail to amplify your message in the right way and place at the right time, all your effort in creating a valuable marketing message will be of no help. The shotgun approach has never delivered a high return on investment.
You can only select the correct marketing medium if you understand your ideal customer. You should know where they are situated, where they move around, and where and how they connect. Find a digital marketing partner that understands the art of the industry and who can do the work behind the scenes on your behalf.
With this spearheaded approach, you can have a better handle on monitoring and controlling your marketing communications for success.
Ultimately marketing is an exercise of memorisation. Repeat the same clear message in one-liners that addresses the problem, solution, and result. Repeat the one-liners on your website, email subject line, opening statement of proposals, elevator pitch, as the first line of your keynote address, and everywhere else you can think of.
As the Last Word
Let us keep reminding ourselves that change brings new opportunities. Nelson Mandela said, “It is in our hands to create a better world for all who live in it.” And that is ultimately the reason we do business.
exeCConnect loves helping people create great businesses through marketing. Contact Juanita Ward on juanita@execconnect.co.za or 061 510 3018 to schedule an appointment.