The other day, a client who I do occasional work with called me. His concern was that the messaging on his website was not clear to visitors, even though he thought it was very clear. He wanted a fresh perspective on what the site was communicating, because he felt he was too close to the messaging. This was definitely a smart move.
Getting too close to our businesses can happen to any of us. When we are too close to something, we lose perspective on it. And that can lead to poor communication with potential clients.
Perspective is powerful in any part of life. That is why I am excited about my family trip to Taiwan (I am writing this from the plane). It is my first time in Asia and I am excited to see it with my wife and boys. I expect it will give us a new perspective on life in general. And who knows, maybe a good business idea or two will come to me. I highly recommend that you take time every once in a while to get a new perspective on your marketing. Some ways to do it are:
Get input from someone new who is not familiar with your business generally or your marketing specifically. As you do, it is important to really think about the naïve questions they ask. It could be similar to what your customers are thinking.
Look at a way marketing is done in a completely different industry and see how it could be applied to what you do. I recently applied marketing that worked well in the IT industry for a photography and retouching client.
Sit down with a customer, particularly a new one, and ask them what your marketing conveyed to them. For example, you can ask what made you seem different to them and why did they choose you over their other options.
However you do it, a fresh perspective can be just what your business needs to dramatically improve your marketing.