Focus on what your audience wants to hear, not just what you want to say. 5 tips for improving the engagement of your marketing communications.
“Here’s what I do. Would you like to buy?” If I were a sales rep using this script, I would be quickly fired due to lack of results. Why do companies use this same approach in their marketing communications and expect a different outcome?
I’m sure you’ve experienced this recently. You’re searching Google for a service or solution and click to visit a company website. You’re not immediately sure if you’ve landed in the right place, so you continue reading for a few more seconds. The information is too confusing or generic, so you click the back button and continue your search elsewhere. That company could be the perfect match for your needs, but it never had a chance to convince you.
A big marketing mistake less experienced marketing teams make is focusing communications on what they want to say rather than what their audience (buyers, influencers, etc.) wants to hear. You need to understand your audience and their needs, communicate in a concise, understandable format, and be creative or unique enough to maintain interest.
Here are 5 things you can do to immediately improve the quality of your marketing communications:
- Get to the point – You have 5 seconds to communicate who you are, what you do, and why the visitor should continue viewing. Every word is critical when making that first impression.
- Differentiate – Your “quality-driven approach” won’t set you apart from your competitors. A true differentiator should be specific, relevant to your audience, and verifiable.
- Make it personal – Use second person (you) point of view, active voice, and command verbs where possible. Increase your revenue by 25%. Track your results in real-time.
- Speak their language – Eliminate, or at least translate, technical jargon and acronyms. If you’re a paradigm shifter, innovator, thought leader, or disruptor, don’t say it – prove it.
- Include calls to action – Present a logical next step along the path to purchase. It could be clicking to learn more, scheduling a demo, joining a mailing list, or (in some situations) buying.
This advice holds true for all communications introducing your company, products, or services – not just your website. Will a C-level executive read your 20-page technical brochure or listen to your two-hour sales pitch? Does your shiny award matter to a buyer? Do people want to attend a webinar about why they should buy your services? Put your audience first, and you’ll find it much easier to generate and maintain their interest.
Have you recently visited any company websites that effectively use this audience-centric approach? Please share.
