It might sound obvious but every single piece of marketing that you ever put out has to have a message. However, this doesn’t mean that it has to convince every single person who sees it to buy your product. Nowadays, most people need to see multiple ads and reviews for a product or service before they decide to buy. However, it’s important that you stop to consider what you want the person who views the ad to think and how it will change their attitude towards you and your product or service.
To work out what message you need to send, you should first think of who will be looking at your advert. If that person is just doing some initial research and is a long way from the point where they will decide whether or not they want to buy your product, then a simple brand building message is fine. At this point, you want to show off your credentials and make it clear why you are good at what you do. Avoid any messages that could be construed as hard sell at this early stage. In many cases, you will simply put people off if you do this.
The next stage comes when people have made a shortlist of products that they are considering. For smaller purchases, many people will skip straight to this stage without doing any research. At this point, it’s time to explain the benefits of your product or service and why these make it better than what your competitors have to offer. It’s important to know the difference between features and benefits. Your customers want to know why you can make their lives better. They don’t care about what it does, they want to know how it will benefit them.
The final stage is to close the deal. In some cases, a little bit of hard sell is appropriate for this type of marketing. It’s time to offer those discounts and other short-term incentives that can really help to get things over the line and turn someone into a customer. Just makes sure that you don’t do too much damage to your bottom line in your quest to convert someone into a buyer. There is no point in selling your stuff at a loss, even if it does make the revenue figures look great in the short-term.
As you can see, the message is a crucial part of your marketing strategy and if you deploy the wrong one at the wrong moment, you could risk losing a sale altogether. Think about the words you’re using and what you’re conveying every single time you create an ad and you’ll have a far better chance of success.