Today, I am going to discuss something that I’m sure everyone has seen at least once or twice, and I would hasten to add that probably the majority of marketers have been guilty of it at least in some small way (I’m certainly no exception).
Ego-centric Marketing
It’s not usually done on purpose, but I think businesses sometimes are guilty of forgetting what their marketing is really about, and who it is for…
So here it is then: Marketing is for the sole benefit of your customers. It is about pleasing them, helping them, answering their questions. What it is not, is a chance to tell them everything that you like about your business.
Avoiding Vanity
We’ve all seen examples of this, the Internet is full of it. Corporate websites often looking smashing, but when you land on a home page that reads like a business plan, it’s hard to be enthusiastic about staying to explore that website isn’t it?
Sentences like “We use innovative [jargon] to excel at [jargon] and provide a more [jargon] service for our key customer groups.” belong in your marketing strategy, or maybe on an about us page.
Your marketing copy needs to be focused on why exactly your customer should buy from you. Customers don’t buy from a company because of how exciting and innovative they are. Customers buy because they believe that the product or service available will solve their problem better than the competition.
Focusing on Your Customer
Once you have come to terms with the fact that 9 times out of 10 your customer doesn’t really care how you do what you do, you can start thinking about why your customers actually do want to buy from you, and then you can start talking about what is so great about your products.
A Good Home Page
A good home page should not have huge blocks of text, it should be fast answers to your customers questions. Lead them towards the action you want them to take, you can always give them the option of learning more about you by viewing your “about us” page.
This is not really a new concept, marketing to our customers is something we all know we should do. But it is all to easy to get wrapped up in your business, I do it, and you might do it too.
Some times the most important thing is just to take a step back and ask yourself “Who have I written this for?” I like to give myself an ego check every so often, just to make sure that I am still approaching what I do in the right way. It’s a trap that anyone can fall into… Have you given yourself an ego check lately?
Guest Author: Mark Johnson is the author of Marks Marketing Blog, a blog about internet business and anything to do with making money online. It’s full of helpful tips for anyone starting an internet business.
