Small Business Talk
The Podcast to Grow your Business Faster
Are You Adding Value?
Show Notes
In today’s fast paced, ever evolving business landscape, how do you stay ahead of the curve especially when we’re talking about marketing? Do you offer value and bring innovative solutions to your clients? What is value for you and what does value means to your client? Are they the same thing? Do you need to kick? There are new and old ways. In my 22 years of experience in marketing, I’ve come to realize that things do not always work the way you want it to. Sometimes you have to stick to the tried and true. Sometimes you have to innovate and sometimes you just have to test and measure.
How Are You Adding Value to Your Customers?
When you want to target your audience, you have to let them know about what you are offering. If they don’t know who you are, they will never buy from you. You need to established trust above all. You need to consider how you present your product or services to your customers even before you do advertising – whether its paid or organic advertising.
It is also important to have a proper strategy because if you don’t, you might miss the mark. Kodak missed such an opportunity to transform lives. Did you know that Kodak, one of the engineers working for Kodak, actually developed the first digital camera? He was told not to worry about it too much. It was big. It was slow. It had such low resolution, and you had to hook it up to a TV before you could do anything with it.
It wouldn’t take off. Kodak actually bought a power sharing service. What they wanted to do with that was use it to get people digital prints. Because, after all, Kodak was all about film so much. What would have happened if they had abused their slogan of the day about capturing moments?
What would happen if it was shared moments, shared life? We might have had quite a different world to what we have today, especially in the digital marketing realm. Imagine the possibilities that could have been if they just looked a little bit further hard. And sometimes that was what we need to do with our marketing as well. We need to think about what it is going to be for not just today, not just about the sale but the lifetime journey of your customers.
Building Trust Is Everything
Your customer should trust you enough so they can see themselves in that transformation. Whether you’re selling it to make a lovely dinner or whether you’re selling coaching that could transform their life – it is still some sort of transformation, and that’s what we need to get across. Quite often it’s about market research. It’s all about what your customers are doing or what they want to do. Remember what Coke did? They were changing the formula. Unfortunately, that was a $30 million mistake. They didn’t go out to their customers and talk to them. They just sprung it on them. There was such a big revolt about it. Eventually they did bring back the classic Coke but the damage was done. So, yeah, it is important that you know what your customers want or what they see as value.
Less is More
Sometimes, we get caught up in the moment and think that we need to add more and more and more. More often that not, we are so focused with wanting for more we fail to see that less can be so much more. That in order to add value, making it simple is the most effective way to do it. You will never know, you might be giving them too much and that is the reason why your marketing strategy is not working because it’s too overwhelming.
It’s not hitting that specific spot, that one thing that the customer actually needs. Take direct mail, for instance. We all said that was dead. Well, not all of us. Quite a few people. But now it’s become a new wide market because it’s not done so much in boxes are absolutely full. But our mailboxes, our letterboxes quite often are empty.
It’s not hitting that specific spot, that one thing that the customer actually needs. Take direct mail, for instance. We all said that was dead. Well, not all of us because some people don’t. But now it’s become a new wide market while our mailboxes are often empty.
Communication is The Key
It is important that you speak to your loyal customers and know what they really want. As a marketing coach, that’s what I do all the time. I help people get that strategy that works for them because it’s not a one thing fits all kind of thing. What works for some people doesn’t work for others.
What works for you now may not work later. What didn’t work for you last time? Well, with a choice coaching that might work now too. So just think about how you can add value to your customers. So the better you know about your existing customers, the better you can serve them. Then the better you’ll be able to attract new ones as well.
Are You Adding Value?
Take it easy. Have a great week. Remember, enjoy your journey.
Listen to the full episode of Small Business Talk episode 194.
You can also find the video versions of the Small Business Talk Episodes on YouTube.
