Crafting your marketing message

In sales and marketing one of the most important elements is the message you put forth to your perspective clients. The key component often over looked by many professionals when it comes to message is the only thing that matters is your prospects perception of your message. You must make your prospect crystal clear about the benefits of using your product or service or you will never make a sale.

Let me give you a very simple example using the sentence

“I didn't know he stole the car.”

The meaning of this sentence can change dramatically with emphasis being placed on any one of the words, let me explain.

Supposed I put an emphasis on the first word and say “I didn't know he stole the car” which can be taken to mean my friend may have known but I did not know personally.

Or I could put emphasis on the word know and say “I didn't know he stole the car” which can be taken to mean perhaps I assumed he stole it; however, I did not know for certain.

I could also put emphasis on the word car and say “ I didn't know he stole the car” which can be taken to mean I knew the man was a thief I was just not aware he had stolen a car.

This example can be powerful if you really learn the lesson detailed in it. At no point did I change the words I was speaking, all I did was change how I emphasized the words. This change in emphasis managed to change the meaning of the entire sentence in each case.

So I ask you the question, how clear is your marketing message? Are your prospects lining up to buy from you or are they giving you a confused or indifferent look? Talk to a few trusted friends and ask for them to critique what you are saying. Is your message being received the way you would like it to be? A few minor tweaks can dramatically change your results.

Remember all that matters is the perception of your client, how they hear it is what matters. Show them a well defined, easy to understand benefit and they will buy. Confuse your client and they will do nothing.