Have you ever watched a television commercial and when it was over, you had NO IDEA what product they were selling?
Let's learn a lesson here!
We need to think of our messaging (marketing) like we are creating a billboard.
When a person drives by a billboard, they have 3 seconds to read and understand its message.
This is the true test of simplicity...and the very reason why SIMPLICITY should be your marketing "buzz word."
Core - What’s the single, central idea that you want to tell?
Compact - How do we make the idea succinct? (see Marketing Chunks below)
We don’t have the luxury of explaining all the wonderful attributes of our products or all of the things we do in one breath. We must narrow to one single idea at a time!
We call this marketing in chunks; here are three examples of ones we use:
ONE: "Time…it's the most precious thing you can give someone.
Especially if you can make it stand still.
And you can…with a Walden portrait."
TWO: "No fake smiles. No bad posing. No details left unattended.
Just a portrait for your wall that takes your breath away.
Brought into existence through artistry, creativity, skill and lots of heart!"
THREE: "Walden's believes there is no time like the present, and no present like time, brought to a halt. Step through their door and find the place where time stands still...with a Walden portrait.
We spread our messaging out through many different venues with simple messages.
Because we message through emails, our website (both in our wording and providing short videos), phone calls, brochures, emags, etc, we can offer little "bite sized chunks" of who we are and what we do.
We don't want to overwhelm our prospects or clients by hitting them all at once with EVERYTHING WE DO AND EVERYTHING WE ARE.
K.I.S.S. (Keep it Super Simple)
The lesson here is not to try to tell your entire story. Just focus on ONE differentiating idea and drive it into the mind. If there’s any trick to finding that simple set of words, it’s being ruthless about how you edit what you want to say.
Anything that others could claim just as well as you can, eliminate. Anything that requires a complex analysis to prove, forget. Anything that doesn’t fit with your customers’ perceptions, avoid.
Some of the most powerful companies have short and simple messages.
- McDonalds: ba da ba ba ba, I’m lovin’ it” (jingle)
- Nike: Just do it
- L'Oreal: You're worth it
- Apple:Think Different
You must make an instant connection with your audience. Simplicity is one of the best ways to do it. Judging from the literature that photographers have given us over the years, we would have to say that most studios across the country are too complicated for their clients to grasp!
What can you simplify this year?
0 Comments