I was driving to my next client meeting when I noticed a big box truck with the words, “Midwest Sales and Service” displayed on either side along with a phone number. My reaction as both a marketing expert and a human being: What the heck are you selling and servicing? I’ve got your number but why should I call it? I have no idea what you’re gonna do for me.
Clear marketing is essential for success. Clearly.
It’s amazing how often businesses lose sight of that fact. Marketing becomes an avenue for being cute and clever instead of clear and concise. While it is fun to add cute cleverness into your images and slogans and whatnot, is it serving your business well?
Keys to Clear Marketing
Here’s some expert marketing advice for the “sales and services” of the world:
1. Be clear in how you communicate what you actually do.
Don’t just put “sales and service” on the side of your truck. (Just trying to help you out here, Midwest Sales and Service.) Give some actual purpose to having your name on the side of a truck by including what you do. For example: “Copier Sales and Service”; “Kitchen Appliances…”; “Vacuums…”; etc. Now I know right away that I could use your service. I could be driving down the road and say, “I do need someone to service my copier. I’ll call.”
This extends well beyond what you plaster on your vehicle and into every area of marketing. Websites are a big problem, too. If I open up your webpage and see vague photos and something along the lines of– “We’re dedicated to providing excellent sales and service, blah blah blah,” but I don’t know immediately what you sell and service, how am I supposed to know if we’re going to be a good fit for each other? I need to know what you do right away. Your customers need to know right away.
2. Be clear about what success your customer will experience after working with you.
Once a potential customer knows what you do, it’s important that you’re clear about how they will benefit from a relationship with your company. Here at Blackwood, for example, we strive to grow our client’s business through branding and content marketing. That is the kind of success you can expect after working with us. And how do you know that? Because it’s the first thing you see on our website.
Ultimately, what the customer really wants to know is the results they’ll see if they give you some of their hard earned money.
3. Be clear about how they can start working with you.
It’s silly that this is even a point, but alas, it is. I visited a website that did the first two points well–they were clear about who they are and what I could gain by working with them–but then I didn’t know what to do next. Do I click a button? Do I send an email? Do I call? I’m interested, but now what?
Make it super easy and super clear with a really big, bright button that says, “Start Here”; “Schedule a Consultation”; “Contact Us”. Make it blatantly obvious. When we implemented a big, bright, button on our sister site, Zipp Printing, we saw an increase in traffic to our order page. It’s big. It’s pink. And it says, “Order now.” Clear as day. Include such calls-to-action in all of your marketing materials – printed, bill board, etc.
Key to Successful Marketing
The moral of the story: be super clear. You can be cute here and there but if it’s distracting from your ultimate message, choose boring and clear over cute and confusing every time.
If your marketing is missing any of the above keys, Blackwood can fix that. And we’re pretty dang good at being both clear and clever (or cute should that be your thing). CLICK HERE for successful, clear marketing.
