I just read the short and sweet Quarterly Sales Messaging Report produced by Corporate Visions.
Let's get right to the focus of today's rant:
62% of sales and marketing executives asked said their company's message DOESN'T stand out in the marketplace.
So fix it!
I've long been a big fan of David Meerman Scott's Gobbledygook Manifesto. In fact, I wrote about it in my book. The general premise being that if you can yank identifying marks (graphics, company names, etc.) and the remaining content could belong to any company, you've got a messaging problem.
With all the noise and clutter clamoring for your prospects' and customers' attention, can you afford not to stand apart? No, you can't.
I haven't found a company or client yet that didn't have something unique and different they could say about themselves - we just had to unearth what that was. And boy, if you can't find it, you've got more than a messaging problem!
Here are a few places to look for that secret sauce that can source differentiated messaging:
- Your approach to solving your customers' problems.
- Your intellectual property - why you do what you do.
- Lose the Gobbledygook - go ahead, try plain English and see what happens.
- How do your customers' articulate the value they get from you?
- Your view of the future or what's next after today's problems are solved...
- Your employees' passion in working for you - why do they show up everyday?
- Get your products out of your messaging and look at what's left.
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