Where, pray tell, does confusion rear its ugly head on your profit & loss statement?
Simple! Under advertising (you may call it marketing, same thing in IRS terms).
If The Message is cloudy, how can you reasonably expect anyone to see through it?
We’re looking for crystalline transparency here.
What is it that you do?
Is that what you should say?
The people I read and follow say, no, not so much.
Honestly, I could get a little better at this, even myself, but I’m doing better than a lot of what I see.
What I see is people talking about themselves.
Their qualifications.
The reasons you should work with them.
The unparalleled fantastic features of their offering.
Okay, some people are interested in that, but the message isn’t clear.
It took me a long time to get this, and I hope this helps somebody like the “old me” to see the point.
What people want to know is the classic WIIFM.
What’s In It For Me?
Benefits.
If I buy your widget, will it add years to my life?
Make my hair shiny and my teeth sparkly.
Be the first kid on my block to own one.
Get it before it’s gone.
Reduce unwanted pounds.
Super-charge your sexual performance.
WIIFM.
I don’t give a poop in a handbag how many years you’ve been cranking out your manufactured creativity or unprecedented service.
I want to know how my life is going to be better if I buy it.
Let’s face it – we hate to read.
I even learned in college that the average resume review is 9 seconds.
To keep emails to two short sentences.
If you don’t hit me with the magnificent wonder in less seconds than it takes me to tie one shoe, you lost me.
Advertising. Quite often the top expense on your P&L simply because of alphabetical serendipity.
But it’s important enough to belong up there, if you want your business to grow.
And as a wise man told me once, “If your business isn’t growing it’s dying.”
Even the best service that people can’t live without in the entire world needs new lifeblood.
Because of churn. People leave, no matter how good you are.
Sometimes they just graduate beyond that point where you’re able to help them further.
Other times (I’ve had this happen) you do a kick-ass job for them, but suddenly their adult daughter is qualified to do the exact same thing, and they just HAVE to use her instead.
That’s cool! You HAVE to understand that churn is a part of business.
Oh, hell yeah, you want to keep the churn percentage as low as possible, but if you think you can hit zero, you’re dreaming.
As another man once said, “Shit happens.”
Therefore, dearest entrepreneur, you must go forth and create new business for thyself.
You must make people aware of what exactly IS in it for them…
…have the fruitful conversations…
…and revel in the successful conversions.
It starts with The Message.
Can someone go to your website, right now, and know how you can help them as soon as they land, without scrolling down?
Hey, I have not done this perfectly either, and I’m just sayin’…
This is worth spending some time on.
It’s also worth spending your advertising dollar wisely on.
Yet another man, one whom I admire mightily says, “If you confuse, you lose.”
The cost of confusion is a sunk cost, to be clear.
Advertising is an ordinary and necessary expense of your business, this is true.
So, question is:
Can you tell me without peeking right now what your return-on-investment (ROI) is for your advertising spend, right now?
No?
Well…
That’s what we call a key metric in this business, and I would urge you to look into that.
If this has been helpful, tell a friend.
If this has been confusing, tell me!
Either way, go forth, be fruitful, and prosper wildly.
We’ve got over half a year left in this tax year.
Let’s make good things happen!