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What's Your Magic?
“The magic is in the product…You've got to live
with your product. You've got to get steeped in it. You've got to
get saturated with it.”
Bill Bernbach
- Advertising Age Magazine’s Advertising Person of the [20th] Century
Bill Bernbach
was the genius behind some of the most profitable
advertising campaigns ever launched. His firm, Doyle Dane Bernbach
(DDB), helped clients sell billions of dollars of goods and
services. A key reason for their success was the ability of DDB’s creative team to find the magic in their clients'
goods and services. As a copywriter and marketing consultant I
take that same approach.
I call it,
Finding Your Magic. This thorough
and detailed approach typically involves five steps:
Step One – With your direction and help I'll study your company, its
products and services, your industry, your top competitors.
This includes reviewing all of your current advertising,
marketing, sales and PR materials along with your most recent "white
mail," such as customer testimonials. If your organization
prepares proposals as part of its sales process I'll ask to see
one of those as well. Plus, I’ll look over any customer
satisfaction surveys and major
trade magazines serving your industry and surf
the internet to check up on the competition.
Step Two – As
I gain an understanding of your company, your product(s) and/or service(s), and your current positioning in the
marketplace...potential tactics, strategies, and messaging ideas
will come to mind. I'll make
note of them. And this increased familiarity will generate
additional questions. When I’m done I’ll have a list of specific and detailed
questions to go over with you.
Step Three – I'll email you the
interview questions and we'll schedule a time for our digitally
recorded interview. During the interview I'll "dig beneath
the surface" and get down to the "nitty-gritty"…as to why people
buy or should buy what you offer. For example, I'll ask
you to -
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Articulate
what differentiates your company from the competition
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Identify the
opportunities you see in the marketplace
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Describe the
common objections people give for not buying and how you
overcome these objections
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Give me your thoughts on what
makes for an "A" lead, a "B" lead, and a "C" lead.
Plus, I’ll have detailed questions about your products and
services.
In this in-depth interview your answers will trigger new
questions and new information which will trigger new ideas. When
the interview is over, with your permission I’ll have our
conversation transcribed. This document will serve as a
reference tool and a source of inspiration for ideas, tactics,
and strategies for improving your marketing, messaging and
lead-generation results. (You’ll also receive a copy of the transcript,
which can serve as a valuable training tool.)
To view
interview questions and an actual interview transcript please
click here. I've edited out the client's
name and any sensitive information been.
NOTE: It's also a good idea if I can conduct
another interview with one of your company’s top
sales executives. In addition, I'll prepare a questionnaire to be
e-mailed to your salespeople asking for their feedback. Getting
their input
and incorporating some of their ideas will
help ensure their buy-in and make your program more
effective.
Step Four – I’ll get the customer’s point of view. Are the reasons
you think they buy from you, the reasons they actually
buy? Depending on the size and scope of the project this may
involve only a few informal interviews with some of your better
customers. In other cases, you may want to undertake an in-depth
research project involving enough interviews to achieve a valid
statistical sample.
In addition to validating your beliefs or bringing new truths
to light, third-party customer interviews can benefit you in
other ways as well. For example, they can often elicit excellent
customer testimonials. Plus, they can uncover new sales
opportunities or potential customer defections.
Step Five – I'll review the printed interview transcript(s), highlighting key sections and making notes. The
transcript(s), together with information gained from customer
interviews and our other extensive activities…will give me a
rock-solid foundation of knowledge. From this foundation and
understanding and insight...the magic in your product, your service, your company
will emerge.
Then I will fully exploit this magic to make your project an unqualified success.
For a client's perspective on the value of this five-step process
click here and read the
first post.
One final note. While you
might expect this level of preparation and attention to come with
a high price tag, I think you'll be surprised with how affordable
it can be. Give me a call today and let's talk things over.
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