Every year the pundits, bloggers, social media hounds, all make major assessments of Super Bowl ads. Enough is said about that and football is not in season, so we won’t be going there.
Unless your business has pockets so deep that you can afford the $5 million for the 30 or 60 second spot, then you must rely on a message that is relevant and targeted. Famous tag lines like Nike’s “just do it”, can be driven home through billions of ad dollars paying for that annoying repetition we all have to endure in front of our TVs.
However, If you are a small to mid-market business, you likely cannot afford to brand yourself through such an investment. Hence, a catchy tagline that often sounds clichéd or vanilla at best is wasted.
Professional, experienced and caring
Trusted advisors
Partners with our Customers
The knowledgeable experts
We put the customer first
Honest and trustworthy
Shall I go on?
Instead, to build a value proposition deliver a message that is: Relevant, measurable and relative to customer’s alternative choices.
- Relevant – be sure what you are crowing about is relevant. I often explain to companies that your longevity and/or family business status is not likely to be a top buying criteria. So save it. Instead concentrate on what is most relevant, it may be on time delivery, accuracy, response time, for example. These differ from business to business. Learn what is most relevant to your
- Measureable – make sure you are not making promises like, “we will deliver in 24 hours”. Instead, brag about your metrics, assuming they have earned bragging rights: “we have delivered at a 98.8% on time rate for the last 3 years.”
- Relative to their alternative choices – If you have a relevant “only” statement, get it out front. “We are the only company offering a choice of warranty.” But don’t tout an only statement if no one cares about it, make sure it is relevant.
We have defined relevance for over 200 companies and about 90% did not previously know what mattered most to their customers and prospects.