Post 3 of 4 in our Targeting Marketing Series
“Content builds relationships. Relationships are built on trust. Trust drives revenue.” - Andrew Davis
After reading my previous article in this series you understand what makes your business unique, and now that you’ve identified your target audience you are ready to communicate to them in a way that persuades them to hire you.
This article is going to teach you how to craft an effective marketing message for your customers. Did you know 81% of consumers now research a company online before making a purchasing decision? This means that in 2021 you are going to need to make a good first impression with your prospective customers online so that they will do business with you.
Without any delay, let’s teach you about what makes an effective marketing message so that you can impress your customers.
How to Build a Marketing Message that Attracts Customers
Marketing enables you to put yourself in front of your customers and give them a taste of what you offer. An effective marketing message should:
- Clearly and directly communicate what makes you unique (this is what you identified in the last article)
- Include pictures that tell a story about your service
- Communicate the features and benefits of your service
- Answer questions and resolve concerns that they might have
- Build a relationship with customers and earn their trust
- Gently and confidently invite them to take the next step in their buying experience (a call-to-action)
All of these principles relate to one another—your job is to build trust with your customer so that they will want to use your service. To do this, you need to empathize with your customer’s problems and help guide them into making a buying decision.
Do’s and Don’ts: A Good Example and a Bad Example of a Marketing Message
In the last article, we identified what makes Travis Denton’s carpet service stand out. Travis wants to communicate his uniqueness by showing his customers that he is punctual and values professionalism. Travis knows that his customers can count on him to get a job done quickly and efficiently with kids present and other activities happening in the background.
Let’s give a good marketing example and a bad marketing example for our fictional customer, Travis Denton. I will use this as an example of what to say and what not to say on your website.
Bad example:
At ABC Cleaners we are committed to using the latest products to take care of all of your carpet cleaning needs. Our Truckmount is top-of-the-line and delivers more horsepower and heat than any other available truckmount using a patented heat exchange process. Additionally, our cleaning uses advanced surfactants developed by leading scientists in the cleaning industry. We spend more on our cleaning equipment and chemicals than any other cleaner, guaranteed.
Give us a call today at 888-888-8888 and schedule an appointment with the best cleaner in your city!
Why is this a bad example of what to say?
If you look at the text, it doesn’t do a very good job of explaining the benefit of their services to the customer. Travis focuses on what makes his business unique in a way that won’t resonate with his customers. He discusses the flashy products and equipment that he uses in an unhelpful way that will likely confuse the customer. Customers don’t have an interest in studying carpet chemistry or what your truckmount looks like. They care that their carpet is clean, that they are not ripped off in the process, and that their pets and kids are safe. None of the copy focuses on this.
Travis was supposed to focus on his punctuality and professionalism in the copy, but he doesn’t mention it at all. Instead, he focuses on features that customers don’t care about.
The call to action is also ineffective and pushy, making it unlikely for a customer to be persuaded to schedule an appointment. You want to guide customers into a buying experience and not just spring it on them.
Now let’s turn to an example that doesn’t make these mistakes and is likely to be effective:
Good example:
Are you tired of the unpleasant feeling that you get every time your feet touch oily carpet? What about that embarrassing urine spot that stands out like a sore thumb every time that you invite a guest over?
Your carpet doesn’t have to remain in an unpleasant condition!
ABC cleaners is here to flush away all of the oil, grime, and nasty urine spots so that you don’t have to deal with a dirty carpet anymore. We will make your carpets fluffy and help restore them to their original condition. Our technicians use professional-grade products that penetrate deeply to the padding level of your carpet, making it possible to break up the toughest spots.
Your life is busy, and you don’t want to just let anyone inside of your personal space. Our business model is centered on reliable professionals that show up on time and are well-dressed to make sure that we earn your trust and get the job done right.
You have a million other worries on your plate, and you don’t want to worry about whether your hard-earned money will go to waste. We offer a free interim service guarantee for your house so that you can rely on us to take care of you if any issue occurs between appointments. You can count on us to protect your investment!
Call us today at 888-888-8888 to schedule a hassle-free, no-obligation consultation. Our friendly technicians will do a walkthrough of your home and show you what we can do to improve your situation!
As Travis, I want my website to have text (copy) that communicates my punctuality and professionalism. I want to show customers that I can take care of their carpets and that they can have the peace of mind they are searching for with my free re-service guarantee.
This copy is good because it communicates all of the many things that Travis will do for his customers without imposing on them: he paints a clear picture of the current condition of their carpets and talks about how his reliable technicians will resolve it.
In this example, Travis builds rapport with the customer by showing the customer that they can count on him to provide them with a timely and professional cleaning experience
His gentle invitation at the end seamlessly invites the customer to visit with his friendly technicians during an in-home consultation. This allows him to go to the customer’s house and complete the sale on-site and prove to them that he is as effective as he claims.
Breaking Down a Real-Life Example of Effective Website Copy
In the last article, we talked about what Mike Bagnall of Bagnall Services does to stand out to his customers. Mike Bagnall provides a great service that upscale customers love, and he also has a website that is a crucial part of his overall strategy to attract his target audience.
“Your website is going to tell the story about how you do things. What you’re trying to do is tell a story about what it is you do, and how you do it, and why you do it. Some customers won’t think you’re legitimate if you don’t have a website,” Bagnall says.
Below is an analysis that I did of a couple of pages of Bagnall’s website. Read on to see what he does to make his value proposition attractive to his customers.
The Purpose of His Front Page
Your front page is the most important part of your website. It holds the power to either bring your prospect closer to making a buying decision or turn them off. Because of this, you need to make sure that you create a good experience for your customer right away.
The first thing that you will notice on Bagnal’s website is that he has a detailed picture front-and-center to help show prospective customers what his services look like. This is intentional. You’ve probably heard the aphorism “A picture is worth a thousand words,” countless times because it is true. A picture sticks with you and creates powerful imagery as described in this informative blog post.
“A picture that shows what you are doing is helpful. Seeing and telling are a good thing,” Bagnall explains.
There isn’t unnecessary clutter on the front page, so as not to create any distractions. Upon visiting this page I know that Mike’s technicians are well-dressed, as shown by them wearing branded polo shirts. They use well-maintained equipment to clean stains off of my couch. The technician is intently focused on the stain, illustrating that he will do a thorough job taking care of my house. The house also looks like mine, showing that if he can do it for somebody else’s house that I can trust him to do it for mine.
“When you’re selling to somebody the biggest obstacle is getting them to trust you. Once they trust you and can relate to you, then they’ll believe you,” Bagnall says.
Now that Bagnall has built some credibility he entices the customer to learn more about his services. The call-to-action button on the picture gently guides the customer into taking this step and invites them to learn more information. This invitation isn’t a hard sell and it doesn’t need to be—it just needs to pique my interest enough so that I will visit the next page and be one step closer to calling his office for a consultation.
Underneath the initial pictures on the website is a body of text that pares well with the image above. The purpose of this page is to build rapport with Bagnall’s customers and get them to explore the features and benefits of using his service.
Bagnall’s copy starts with a quick review of the past issues that the customer might have experienced when they have previously hired a carpet cleaner. Bagnall is aware his customers might have had a bad experience in the past and he starts by immediately addressing this concern.
He quickly transitions into talking about the damage that can occur to carpets due to frequent usage.
This creates a need for his service, and Bagnall answers this need by appealing to his credibility and explaining why customers should use his service.
Bagnall uses language that lets his prospect know that he gives the most “thorough cleaning available” in the Denver area. He further explains that they can trust his technicians because they are “nationally certified” and that most companies don’t provide this level of rigorous training. You can tell from reading the last couple of sentences that Bagnall is confident about his ability to remove any stain—“If Bagnall Services is unable to remove a spot or stain safely we are confident that no one else can.”
The “Learn More” Page
By clicking on the “learn more” tab you will be taken to the next page of Bagnall’s website to read about a comprehensive overview of all of the services that he offers. Here, Mike acts as a friendly guide to his customers so that he can earn their trust by answering some of the questions that they might have.
Each section covers the problems that customers might be experiencing with various types of flooring and upholstery. Mike addresses common concerns that customers are probably experiencing and what they need to do to solve them.
Summarizing What We Learned about Bagnall’s Website
There are a couple of takeaways that we just learned from looking at Mike’s website that you need to remember when you are designing your own. These tips work for anyone, whether you are just starting out or whether you are in the process of revamping your website.
- Use Pictures- Pictures put you right in front of your target customer and give a powerful visual representation of what they will be getting when they hire you.
- Tailor your website to your target audience- Mike’s website from start to finish looks like it is thoroughly centered around being appealing to his upscale customers. The cursive lettering that he uses, the royal purple, and pictures of fancy rugs and tiling build credibility with his customers by showing that he has experience working with people like them.
- Place gentle calls-to-action that make sense throughout the body of your copy- There are countless times throughout Bagnall’s website where he asks customers to take action. He invites them to learn more, get a quote, remove loose items on the floor, call today for your no-obligation estimate, etc. They all work together to engage your prospective customer and involve them in making a buying decision. This communicates in a non-awkward way that you are able to help them.
- Educate your customer about why they should use your service- Your customers need to know that they can trust you. Bagnall talks about how his technicians are IIRC certified with extensive experience, and he talks about how they use the latest methods and products in the industry. He does all of this without going into extensive detail so that he doesn’t bore his customer.
- Highlight the features and benefits of your cleaning service- Bagnall talks about how customers can quickly walk on their carpets after they are finished being cleaned, how he uses 3M Scotchgard to maintain the cleanliness of the carpet, how he is able to eliminate stains, and spotting from the toughest spots, and more.
- Your website doesn’t need to be the best website in the world to accomplish its intended purpose- You don’t need to have decades of experience in web design to create an engaging message that makes your customers want to take action
- Each part of your website should be strategically designed to get your customer to take the next step- Mike Bagnall knows that he is a good salesman. If he can get inside a customer’s house there is a very good chance that he will close the sale. His website is designed so that his customers will call his office for a free consultation. This is the customer’s journey:
Customer visits Mike’s Website and has a positive/engaging experience →The customer decides to call Mike’s office secretary→ Customer requests a free consultation → Sale is completed at consultation → Customer’s house is serviced.
It’s notable that Mike doesn’t close the sale on his website. Instead, he invites the customer to make the decision to call his office. This small decision will lead to the next one and then the next one until the deal is closed.
Other Tips to Consider When Crafting a Marketing Message
We’ve spent a lot of time covering what you need to include in your marketing message. Let’s take a minute now to cover how you should organize your writing to make it appeal to your readers. The following tips come from Copyblogger. Make sure that you do the following with your writing:
- Keep your writing simple, and direct: Don’t add extra wording that isn’t necessary. Get right to the point by answering your customer’s questions. “I’ve found that the longer your advertisements are the less appealing they are because most people are too busy to waste time on things like that. I would say short and sweet is the best way to go,” Bagnall relates.
- Keep your paragraphs short: In general, I don’t usually write more than four or five lines before creating another paragraph
- Write in Active voice: This engages your customers. For example, don’t say “All types of carpet flooring are cleaned by our technicians.” Instead, say: “Our technicians clean all types of flooring.”
- Edit your message: After you’re finished with your writing, set it down and come back to it later. When you get a chance to look at it again you might realize that there are parts of what you said that need to be clarified.
- Have a fresh set of eyes look at what you wrote: Contact a friend that also works in the carpet cleaning industry. Have them read what you wrote to see if it makes sense.
To summarize, always make sure that your writing is engaging, simple, and easy to understand. You don’t have to get it right the first time. Creating engaging content for your customers is part of a process that takes time. Write out a draft that you can come back to and revise later on.
If you do everything mentioned above, your customers will understand what you are asking them to do, and your writing will inspire them to take action.
Marketing for Other Venues
In this article, we’ve just focused on writing for your website, but these principles apply to all forms of communication that you create for your customers. Anything that you create needs to engage your customer, build trust, answer their questions and call them to take action.
Conclusion
As a business owner, you should continually focus on marketing yourself to your customers. In order for your customers to buy, you need to create an effective marketing message that identifies what makes you unique.
All of the marketing messages that you create should be centered on communicating value to your customer so that they take the next step towards hiring you. Your copy should be simple and should answer the questions that your customer might have. You should use pictures to create a powerful visual aid for your customers and use descriptive adjectives that convey a powerful message of what they will be getting from your service.
All of this might sound like a lot to do, but it doesn’t need to be. The best thing that you can do is start today. Marketing takes time and is always an ongoing effort, so don’t let the newness of it discourage you. As you are consistent at creating materials for your customers you will build trust with them and provide them with a user experience that will generate sales and new leads.
To read the second post in this series click here: https://blog.aramsco.com/follow-this-guide-to-understand-how-to-set-yourself-apart-to-your-customers
Have questions about what you read? You can send us an email at marketing@aramsco.com.
Mike Bagnall has also offered his help and support with any questions. You can contact him at: info@bagnallservices.com We’d love to discuss your challenges and opportunities!
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