Every company has a message which they have carefully crafted to convey their unique selling proposition (USP). A USP is not exactly the same as your value proposition. Your value proposition tells the target audience why they should care about your offerings. Your USP is one or two key attributes of your offering that makes it different from a competitor’s. They are brought together by a messaging strategy.
Your messaging strategy should ensure that your communications are always focused on what your audience is most concerned with at that moment. And what resonates with a prospective customer depends on where they are in their process toward making a purchase decision. In other words, your message – and USP – should be tuned to the different points along the Buyer’s Journey to ensure that you are telling a prospect what they need to know, not what you want to say.
We’ve all had that conversation where someone describes a need, and we immediately describe all the ways our product or service can solve that need, only to have the other person reply “no thank you.” On the surface, they may not seem to understand what you just said, and you may even double down on explaining all the benefits of your offering, but that may shut down all communication with them. This may be a symptom of telling the person what you want to say rather than what they needed to know at that moment. Unless it speaks to their immediate concern, it doesn’t matter what your message is. We cannot see the end solution if we are focused on the immediate symptom. Ever wondered why the adage “can’t see the forest for the trees” is universally true?
To prevent this from happening, make sure your messages meet the prospect where they are, and shift as they move along in the buying process. The Buyer’s Journey is a concept we all know. It’s the predictable path a customer travels from the time they first decide they need to take action to beyond the purchase. The questions a prospect has at each stage in that journey will be different. Your messaging strategy should guide messaging so it resonates with prospects at each stage.
Some companies are fully capable of designing this strategy and creating the content to go along with it, but it is not an insignificant effort. That’s why there are content writers, and good ones are worth their weight in gold. I have formed alliances with professional business copywriters, like Christopher Reardon, of Reardon Communications, who specialize in creating content that resonates with your audience. They are storytellers who weave your Value Proposition and USP into every piece of writing they create. Check them out.
Would you like to know more about creating a messaging strategy and ensuring your messages don’t fall flat? Call me or set up a complimentary consultation at www.calendly.com/esmolko/business-meeting and watch how much better your messages will convert!
