Top ten lists are quite the rage these days, but when it comes to effective marketing and advertising, there is only a Top Three. That’s right…three things you need to keep in mind when developing marketing strategies for your products and services.

And by the way, if you’re starting to advertise before thinking carefully about your marketing plan, it’s like you’re climbing in the car, driving off on a trip, with no road map and no idea of your destination.

Many people, when embarking on an advertising campaign, put the cart before the proverbial horse. They think about what the ad should say…what photos to use…which media to use…before they answer the three critical questions. When you’ve developed satisfactory and appropriate answers to the Top Three questions, your advertising strategy will just about fall into your lap.

This article deals with Question Number One. We’ll take up the others in later pieces.

WHAT ARE WE SELLING?

That’s the first thing to determine when thinking about an advertising or marketing plan. Seems simple, but it’s not. That’s because what you’re selling is often not what you think it is.

The mistake here is focusing on the product rather than what it does…on the thing instead of how the thing benefits the buyer. There’s an old saying about “don’t sell the steak, sell the sizzle.” If you don’t ask this first question, you’ll probably wind up selling the steak, and you won’t get the results you want.

Your prospects don’t care about your product. They care about themselves. They don’t care about what the thing is, they care about what it does, how it benefits them, how it makes their lives better. Example, and a pretty obvious one: Companies that sell home alarm and security systems never talk about the hardware. They talk about how you won’t have to worry about your spouse and children, how you’ll be all nice and cozy in your home, protected from the gangs of ravenous drooling thugs that roam the streets in search of soft targets. They sell the emotional appeal of the product, rather than the product itself.

Another example is those take-out food places. There’s a Boston Market near our home in Southwest Florida, and what do you suppose they sell? Great tasting food? Well, yes. Huge selection of deliciously-prepared side dishes? That, too. But the BIG message is convenience. Run in, pick up a couple of main dishes and vegetables, take them home, and dinner’s on the table.

There was a chain of cafeterias up north years ago that did the same thing. Their slogan, which was endlessly repeated in all their advertising was “Less Work For Mother.” They weren’t selling food, they were selling convenience.

So, before you begin to put your dollars out for newspaper ads or television commercials, call us to help you answer the important questions…and make your marketing more successful.

Next: The Second Question