In marketing Less is More – quite often

differentiation, Marketing, messaging, Positioning, Product Management, Sales, segmentation

If you have been observing the posts I have been writing, in the last few weeks, you would have noticed one common traits.

I have been asking you to continuously reduce and sharpen your focus.

In the marketing focus I spoke about identifying a single niche which is small enough for the big players but large enough for you to focus. So we eliminated all the remaining markets/segments and isolated a minimum viable market to start. Once you become successful in one, then you can move to the next segment and so on.

In the B2B messaging that I have been speaking about in the last few days , again, I have insisted on you sending a message which cannot be made shorter for conveying the information or problem. Once you can start the conversation with the recipient, you then have enough time for discussing about the various services that you offer. But there are so many distractions and complexities in our lifes, that if your message will look even slightly complex people will ignore you.

Its very tempting to try and grab as much as possible in the market, to write as much as possible in your message, but that is the sure shot way to not get anywhere in marketing .

Like the master piece sculpture in the picture, if the artist had not chiseled away the unwanted stone, you would notice this sculpture. Similarly for your market remove all the things which reduce your focus.

In marketing , most of the times , Less is actually More.

Till next time.

Carpe Diem!!!

B2B Messaging – Part III

differentiation, Marketing, messaging, Positioning, Product Management, Sales

Continuing from where I left yesterday you only have a fraction of a second before the person presses the delete button on your mail- assuming it even reached her.

To be able to do this, you have to be a wordsmith so you can continuously reduce the unwanted words and reorganize them so that the right nuance is brought out in your mail .

But even before that you have to think completely in terms of that person’s interests and keep your interests aside.

Assuming you have followed me up to now , you have segmented your market, then identified an economically viable niche and then isolated that one person who would seek you out

While I have stated all the assumptions in one paragraph, we have complete departments whose only job is to continuously figure this out and keep improving on the definition of the ideal customer.

But if you have done the above work, kept your self interest aside, placed yourself in that ideal person’s life you can list out a lot of things where you can directly touch a cord.

Within that, my experience in B2B has been that if you are selling something to a department which sits on the cost side then it always takes a longer time.

On the other if you sell something which can increase revenues then it moves faster. As Dean Jackson says everyone in an organization is entitled to bring in money but for spending money you have to cross multiple levels of approval.

So see how you can get your offerings to work for the marketing side.

Till next time.

Carpe Diem!!!

Creating a message for your niche-Part II

differentiation, Marketing, messaging, Positioning, Product Management, Sales, segmentation

As I had mentioned yesterday, creating the messages which could resonate with your market is by far one of the toughest things.

Rest of the things like identifying the demographic, identifying the Influencers, identifying the places where people congregate are all possible through various means. You can buy data, you can buy advertising space etc.

But after that creating multiple messages for that audience to test what will stick is a major effort.

That’s the reason why people who write copy get paid so massively.

One tool I have found useful, and I tell my team to use extensively is to write the autobiography of the person whom we are targeting. What is the day in the life of that person, what are her possible challenges, what are the issues she has to face everyday.

Once you start getting into the shoes of the person, automatically a lot of questions start getting thrown up, which can be modified for the medium you are using to send the message.

Another tool which I found very useful for building the messaging is one of Perry Marshall’s Swiss Army knife techniques. He likes to identify this person as above and wants you to also think in terms of the best friends of this person, the worst enemies and so on. Using this also you can quickly generate ideas, which will then need to again be modified for the respective medium you are using to send the message.

Even today I have to keep trying various options for messaging and then once, one message clicks how to improve it. If you have a creative bent of mind and like to do a lot of research its a good job to do.

Till next time.

Carpe Diem!!!

Customer segmentation by usage – consumer example

differentiation, Marketing, mindset, Positioning, Product Management, Sales, segmentation

Yesterday we spoke about a specific usage scenario can create a niche for doing DR for ERP users in states where hurricanes are common.

Lets look at how on the consumer side you could use the same concept.

There are a lot of dry cleaners in every city. If you were to segment by just the demographics you may not be able to come up with a uniquely different niche.

But suppose, your demographic data threw up a lot of families with kids and you were to target parents of kids who play sports.

You create your operation in such a way that you can turn around a dry clean in less than 6 hours.

When my son was school going, there were so many times I wished if we had a dry cleaner who could get the blazer cleaned within a few hours.

Now if you can message to these parents about how you can get their sports stains completely removed within 6 hours, then you could remove one of the major hassles.

For doing this service you could be charging a premium. Once you have made the customer you could still offer the normal dry cleaning as well for all types of clothes but you will create the perception of being a specialist.

Where this strategy could fail is if there aren’t enough school going kids in the neighborhood or if someone is already giving 6 hour dry cleaning for all clothes at all times.

Marketing at the end of the day is also knowing about what your direct competitors are doing as well as what are the other methods for the customer to achieve the same outcome.

As I write these things, I also sometimes get a better understanding of how to solve a problem I am facing. As Joe Polish says – and I am paraphrasing it – the best way to learn anything, is when you are able to teach someone about it.

Till next time.

Carpe Diem!!!