It’s everywhere around us: bad marketing. Companies advertising that they are just like their competitors. Businesses telling us that they specialize in 50+ things. Service providers who claim their main point of differentiation is superior service. It does not have to be that way. With a little thought and effort, any business can improve its marketing. It will help the business be more successful and make the world a better place... at least from a marketer’s perspective. Here are three steps to improve your marketing: 1) Differentiate Yourself from Your Competitors When you sound exactly like your competitors, your product or service sounds like a commodity and people tend to buy based on price. Simply making your product or service stand out in a way that matters to customers can change their perception of you. One differentiator I focus on is teaching. I truly want to teach my clients about marketing, so they can make better marketing decisions. When meeting with prospective clients, I let them know that I am good at teaching (just finished teaching an Online Advertising class at USD) and that I will educate them as we do their marketing. If that is something they want out of a marketing consultant, then they are more likely to choose to work with me than other consultants. 2) Move Beyond “Great Service” Too many companies talk about their great service. However, that is simply a requirement to stay in business today. If you are going to focus on service, make it measurable in a way that matters to to the customer. For example, if you are an IT services company, instead of saying you are “responsive”, make it measurable: “we respond to clients within 15 minutes during normal business hours.” 3) Develop a Clear and Concise Message You need to be able to explain what you or your product does in a clear and concise manner. If it takes you more than 30 seconds to explain what you do, you have already lost your prospect. When I moved to telling people that Factor Four provides “lead generation to service businesses” rather than rattling off a list of marketing services we can do, it made a big difference. And while that is not all that we do, it is the heart of it... and people get it (the most important part). These are the foundations of good marketing. If you get these three things right, all of your marketing and advertising will be much more effective. If you would like some help figuring out these three pieces or applying them to your marketing plan, I would be glad to help. Use the contact us.