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Is Your Message Clear?
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Jul 10, 2008 Posted by Layla Masri
Can anyone out there tell me what this product is?
ABC’s GADGET is an agentless monitoring solution designed to ensure the availability and performance of distributed Web and VoIP IT infrastructures. This proactive, Web-based infrastructure monitoring solution is lightweight, highly customizable, and doesn't require high overhead agents on your production systems.
Do you have any clue what ABC company does and—more importantly—whether GADGET may actually help you solve a real business problem? I have no idea what this product is, and my job is deciphering business jargon like this and translating it into English.
This paragraph is the introductory text on the homepage of a real company. And I think it is a good example of poor marketing communications. Where is the business problem? How is a user coming to that site going to know if they’re in the right place? How can prospects be sure this company really understands their pain?
Good marketing communications connects with the prospect. The message lets the prospect know that you understand them and what really matters to them. It’s about them, not about you.
How can you make sure your message connects with your prospects or customers?
· Figure out the prospect’s WINFM (what’s in it for me), and target your message to their need, not what you think is interesting about your product or service.
· Tell them what they need to know to determine whether what you are offering could be a fit. If you can’t explain what you do in plain English, then chances are your customer isn’t going to understand how you can help them.
I’ve been a writer and editor for almost twenty years and without exception, when the clients I work with really understand how their product will meet their audience’s needs, they are able to explain it in non-technical terms that connect with the prospect.
Let your marketing materials work for you…take the time to figure out what you’re prospect wants to know and tell it to them. Do that and you will stand out from your competitors.
Susan Rose is president of Two Sisters Creative.