Is Your Marketing Helping You to Stand Out?

There's a problem in marketing today.

More specifically, the way a lot of small businesses and service providers use marketing to promote themselves.

"Marketing" is often seen as a way of simply letting people know you exist, with an underpinning belief that if people know you're there, they'll become your customers.

The approach is essentially the "if you build it, they will come" model.

Unfortunately, that's a lie. With few exceptions, being known to exist isn't enough to attract a lot of customers.

What's also important is considering how you are perceived. Are you memorable, or a "me too"?

A "me too" business is one that people view as offering the same as others. You're interchangeable with a competitor.

This is often the perception when businesses promote themselves on what they do, because the common assumption is if someone is trained or experienced in doing something, they're as good as anyone else with the same training. If you're a trained hypnotherapist, your marketing objective is to make people understand how you're more effective than other hypnotherapists.

Remember: people think about solutions, not titles and tactics. 

It's rare for someone to think "Hmm, I need a hypnotherapist." Outside of the obvious needs, like hiring a plumber to fix a broken toilet, we can often get stuck on knowing what the solution is to our problem.

All we know is what we want fixed.

"I need to overcome my fear of public speaking so I can deliver presentations at work."

"I need more clients."

"I need to calm my mind so I'm not up half the night worrying."

It's then your job to make your marketing communicate that you can help with these problems.

The cold reality is this: if your messaging isn't explicitly making it clear how you can help someone, you're a needle in a haystack.

But here's the good news: most people get this wrong. That means your competitors are likely getting it wrong, and have left a big opportunity for you to swoop in and reap the rewards.

While everyone else is putting out marketing material that says what they do and what their qualifications are, you can utilise marketing that clearly highlights what you can do to help. 

Talking about what you do actually makes life harder for your prospects. They need an understanding of what that service entails, or they're required to go and learn about it. As an example, if you're a hypnotherapist who simply says "I do hypnotherapy" people have to then ask questions or research what exactly hypnotherapy is. On the other hand, if you focus on the results and benefits you provide by using hypnotherapy, you've made their lives easier and given them hope.

Suddenly, you're the person they want to work with, because you've put them and their needs at the heart of your messaging.

That's why messaging is critical - it gets people's attention first, then you can wow them with your experience and testimonials.