To quote my friend and local celebrity-copywriter, Chris Haddad, “Marketing is the art of making a promise and keeping it.” So true. And to that I would add, “Marketing strategy is the art of attracting and retaining customers through a carefully designed series of kept promises.”

The thing is, big and bold promises just don’t work anymore. With trust in marketing at an all time low, nobody believes you when you say something like, “We provide the highest possible level of service.” It may be true, but on its own it will be treated as meaningless marketing hyperbole.

So what works. What makes people want to even give you the chance to deliver on a promise? I’ll tell ya. There are three components and it all begins with Relevance.

Relevance is what gets people to want to pay attention to you. Without it, people want to ignore you. To establish relevance you have to know your target market – their likes, dislikes, needs, wants, etc. And you need to know exactly what makes you their best choice (Just make sure you have something that actually does make you the best choice). Then you tell them about it in the places where they’re likely to be looking for someone like you.

The next step is the big one: Credibility. Almost every small businesses suffers from a credibility gap. At the most basic level you need professionally designed and written marketing materials (website, brochure, logo, etc). But that just gets you beyond the “no way” factor.

Beyond that, real credibility needs to be earned. One of the best ways to earn it is by giving away information. It could a useful How-To, FAQ or analysis to demonstrate your expertise; a blog showing your dedication and personality, or any number of things. Sorry folks, but canned information does not count.

Another way to build credibility is through third-party endorsements from trusted people or companies. For that you could try to get covered by respected bloggers, magazines, newspapers, etc. Or cross-promote with a company with established credibility.

The third and equally critical element is Value. Value is what makes someone want to take the next step (buying your product or just continuing to pay attention). Sure, price is a factor, but it’s also based on elements such as quality, convenience and even style. But to know what adds value you have to know what people actually want. And that means, you guessed it, targeting.

And there you have it. Relevance, Credibility and Value. If any one of them is missing, your marketing efforts are going to bomb. But when you have all three put together in the right way, you’re headed for a hit.

Exciting, right? But what do you do with it? You make it your mantra, that’s what you do. Put all of your marketing endeavors to the test. Everything you do should quickly and almost effortlessly establish RCV. Then, you put it all together into a strategic plan. This is where we get to the “series of promises” that kicked it all off.

A powerful marketing strategy will give potential customers a range of levels of involvement, from the first tentative step to fully-engaged client. The smallest first step is when they give you permission to market to them – usually by giving you their email address. Though it’s a small act, it’s incredibly valuable to you.

To do that, show your RCV but make the Value an Incentive to for them to give you their contact info – a useful document, a newsletter, a sample, etc. One caveat though. DO NOT ask for their name, address and phone number unless you absolutely have to. If it’s their first step, chances are they don’t trust you enough yet.

Once you’ve delivered on that promise, you have an opportunity to offer another promise and deliver on that. If personal contact is important, the next step could be an informational (no-pitch) event. For that, you could enhance the incentive by making it fun and offering food and drinks (I love that strategy. It works like a charm). And, the event, of course, should be designed to lead to another even bigger promise you keep.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS