What Your Local 10 O’Clock News Team Can Tell You About How to Market Your Services
How many times have you heard a newscaster (or any non-expert) describe your industry’s services to a lay audience in a way that made you think, well that’s not actually the way it is? That’s because they’re trying to dumb down your offering into a 10-second spot to explain it to the consumer. Kind of like what you should be doing for some of your marketing campaigns.
The general public doesn’t understand what you do – and in fact they don’t want to. Consumers just want to know what you’re selling will benefit them. If you provide what I call “complex services” (like legal, medical, financial services / insurance, etc.) you’re probably too close to your business to know the best way to explain the value your company offers to customers. It’s been called the “curse of knowledge” – it means you know too much about what you’re selling to help someone else appreciate or understand it.
Understanding the mindset of the consumer can be one of the most challenging aspects of marketing. Unwrapping their wants, needs, and values are what marketing is all about, but all too often companies forget (or never learn) how to market in a way that is meaningful to their target audience.
Watch what the reporters on the evening news try to do – they boil down topics to their most essential emotional points, because that’s what consumers (their audience) respond to. In sales and marketing, perception is more important than substance…you need to know how consumers perceive your services. Listen to the ways the news team simplify what you do – it can give you insight into the mind of the consumer, how they perceive your offerings, and what they believe sets one provider (ie: you) apart from another (ie: your competitors).
So pay attention to that 10 o’clock news report next time they’re doing a story on you or your industry – there could be some gems in it for you and your marketing team.
