Turn it off. Turn it off. Turn it off.

“How many times must I keep telling you?”

It’s a phrase you probably hear time and time again. Coming from a mum, dad, teacher or grandparent … these 8 little words are an easy phrase to fall from their lips as they throw their arms up in frustration at the child in front of them.

The person knows clearly in their own heads what is it they are trying to get the child to understand. But because they are either tired or pre-occupied (or just don’t know any better), they get frustrated by repeating the same instructions over and over again.

Yet you know that if an instruction is explained another way … the child may well get it.

If only they realised how the child processed the instructions and how different words meant different things to them, life as a kid would be easier!

So knowing this, why do you make the same mistakes in your marketing?

Yup, I bet you do.

We all do it. Me, you and every famous brand to little home business … you know what is it that you do and what it is that you offer, but no matter how many times you try and tell potential customers, it falls on deaf ears.

Why is it that your customers don’t get what is you are trying to tell them?!

You could have the most amazing, incredible time saving / weight losing / life changing / career enhancing / money generating product or service … and you keep telling people over and over again – in emails, on your website, in social media, at networking meetings, at exhibitions – about your offer.

But if your potential customer doesn’t get exactly what your offer is, you are not going to make any sales and your business will be no more.

Most business owners come up with one or two angles; one or two fabulous reasons why their offer is one not to be missed.

Actually … re-write: most business owners don’t ever come close to finding a single fabulous reason why someone should buy!

So let’s rephrase …

Most business owners who have spent time identifying their target customer and a list of features AND BENEFITS (it’s the benefits you want – not a list of features!) come up with just one or two angles; just one or two fabulous reasons why their offer is one not to be missed.

And then they focus on these one or two fabulous reasons to get their message out there.
It captures some customers. You make some sales. But what about more?

How come after an initial surge of interest, your orders and enquires trail off?

Let me give an example. If you shop in the UK, you may have at some point in your grocery shopping experience stumbled into a Waitrose. If you stumbled in recently, you may have noticed the fresh smell of coffee and piles of newspapers that some people are helping themselves to … for free.

Waitrose re-launched it’s MyWaitrose Card a while ago and the campaign in the stores have been focused on “get a free coffee and newspaper every day you come and shop in Waitrose”.

It seems a no brainer doesn’t it?

Who wouldn’t want a free coffee and a newspaper?

Well, actually … me!

I don’t drink coffee and I don’t read newspapers. Now I know I am probably in the minority but I shop a lot for groceries as you may imagine with a husband, 2 teenagers and a dog to feed each and every week. So it would make sense for me to pick up a free MyWaitrose Card.

But I have enough cards in my wallet thank you. Another one just doesn’t do it for me.

And this is what I have stuck to over the past few months, even though every time I shop at Waitrose I get asked for my MyWaitrose Card and offered one when the cashier realises I haven’t got one.

Until yesterday.

Yesterday, my cashier was particularly chatty. And I found myself joking with her the reasons why I didn’t have a MyWaitrose Card. Then she hit me with MY trump card … the reason why I should definitely get one: MyWaitrose Card gets me money off my shopping.

Ta dah!

I had no idea that this “get your free coffee and newspaper every day” offer had anything to do with money off. It was probably on the form and promo leaflets somewhere, but for whatever reason I had not acknowledged it. Saving money off my shopping had not been on the glaring headlines or marketing messages that I had picked up on.

My reason to take up Waitrose’s offer suddenly became compelling to me because it got me money off my shopping. And without having to faff about with coupons. Just hand over the card and get £4.51 zapped off my shopping, there and then.

Sold!

(Well, not exactly sold … but I am now registered on Waitrose’s website, they have my full contact details and I just know the marketing machines are going to start working me hard to spend more of my grocery budget with them.)

I know plenty of people who had been sold on the free coffee and newspapers. And Waitrose had picked those people up quickly. But it took one cashier to tell me something different from what I was reading on the promo posters and leaflets to make it a no-brainer for me.

Lots of reasons are needed why your customer must buy from you – not just the one headline

Stop shouting the same message over and over again.

And this is what you must do with your marketing. You must come up with lots of different reasons why someone must buy, rather than just stick to the same message over and over again.

It was certainly a stark reminder for me that I must not rely on one or two compelling reasons … there must be different angles that you try for different audiences, different times of the year, even just different emails in your autoresponders.

So stop sounding like a parrot and getting frustrated if your message isn’t getting through.

If you feel you’ve told the right people about the right product or service but you are NOT to get the sales in, then you need to change up your messages throughout your marketing campaign.

Find other compelling reasons why they should buy. And then make sure you communicate these reasons at different points in your marketing campaign.

Plus it’s just one more reason why the dreaded “long sales letter” really does still work (more of that for another day!)

How many compelling reasons do you come up with when marketing your business? Do you stick to just one or two core messages? Or have you never thought about this before?

I would love your thoughts and opinions so leave a comment below.