Most marketing totally sucks and does not differentiate the advertiser from their competitors at all.

This short post will give you three evaluations to apply to your own advertising or marketing pieces to see for yourself if it’s any good or not.  Almost all marketing out there uses only platitudes – in other words, words and phrases that are meaningless.

Does yours?  Let’s see . . .

Evaluation # 1 – “I would hope so . . .”

Are the statements in your marketing or advertising just stating the obvious?  If you you repair cars, do you say things like we fix any make or model of car – well, I would hope so – that’s what you do, right?

Any statements just stating what your business does do not set you apart from any competitors, they just state the obvious.

A CPA that says they do personal and business taxes, we find all the deductions you are entitled for, we file electronically on time every time.  That’s exactly what every other CPA on the planet does . . .  very unremarkable and a waste of your money saying it.

Evaluation # 2 – “Who Else Can Say That” 

Does your marketing or advertising say things like “in business 30 years, best service, top quality work, free estimates, customer service always available, best service after the sale, etc, etc, etc.

Who else can say that – actually every one of your competitors can and does – these platitudes do not set you apart from anyone.

To be clear, the point is not who else can do it but who can say it.

A competitor may suck at delivering what they claim but that’s not the point, – this evaluation is about who else can and does say it not whether they can deliver.

Evaluation # 3 – “Scratch Out, Write In Test” 

Take one of your ads or brochures – scratch out your name and write in your competitor’s name – is the ad/brochure still valid?

Now, do it the other way, take a competitor’s ad, brochure or marketing piece and scratch out their name and write in yours – still valid claims?

You fail!

No matter how good your inside reality may be, it is not being communicated to your prospects and customers if your materials fail these three evaluations.

In order to have something good to say in your marketing, it may require you do some innovation in your business to make sure you have something good to say.

We help companies do that by first determining what your customers want and need, what their hot buttons are, what their frustrations are surrounding buying whatever it is that you sell and then fixing those problems.

Once that is done, we have something good to say your competitors can’t say and you get much more business as a result!

The steps explaining the innovation process are the subject of a different post but just know we have to make sure you are in fact better than your competitors before doing any advertising and promotion!

Call 303-884-0859 or email joemcvoy@gmail.com to find out how we can help you make your marketing effective instead of sucking!