What do customers think of when they hear the name of your finishing business? Do they get a fuzzy image or a clear picture? Is it an accurate snapshot of what you do best or not so much? Are their thoughts good ones or bad ones? Do they also think of other finishing suppliers but in a better light? Or do they have a special place in their heart for yours? Try as you might, positioning your place as the go-to, must-remember source for expert finishing is extra challenging. Simultaneously, your audience is out there forming its own opinion based upon messages you’ve already cast—whether those messages are intended or not. The point is, with those opinions, they in effect do the branding for you. The only way to control the process is to control the messages that shape the opinion in the first place. Get the picture?
The customers’ demand
Indeed every picture tells a story. Your work, your facility, your name, what you say—what you don’t say—it all sends a certain message. But customers don’t expect perfection—they simply won’t pay for it. In return they’ll throw you lots of slack when it comes to your “image.”
From a customer point of view, the special domain of the supply chain relationship is hallowed: “give me the quality, get me the price and have the product here at the right time—we really don’t care how you do it.” The problem with this is, they’re not also promising you endless loyalty. You must somehow sustain your business in order to compete with everyone else just to earn this kind of business!
The battle for the mind
In order to secure your hold in the marketplace, you have to carve out a desirable position that offers promise of fulfilling your vision. But as I talked about earlier, “positioning” is really the net effect you have on the customer’s mindset. Remember,
- customers are the ultimate judge and jury,
- your messages must compete in a crowded space with lots of static and flak,
- as in real estate, location (e.g. top of mind) is everything.
To improve your positioning, work on your messages and create them deliberately. It’s a critical and strategic exercise that warrants persistence and knowhow—it’s not easy.
Four ways to gain back control
Anyone can have an ad, launch an email campaign, blab about themselves in their own website or share irrelevant links in social media. But if you want to create messages that give back control, make them R.A.R.E.
Strategic and desirable messaging is (RARE):
1. Relevant
and targeted to your audience(s)—these two metrics go hand in hand. Miss either one and you must stop here and go to jail.
2. Authentic
to your brand—like you, customers are smart buyers and they come very well informed. Lie to them and you’ll discover new meaning to the phrase “out of mind.”
3. Resonating
to your customers—because they’ve got little time for anything else. When a message resonates you connect and engage customers with your story.
4. Enhanced
—it answers the inevitable, what’s in it for me? Raise the value of your message (and differentiate from everybody else) by offering benefits. Forget about features.
Being consistent should be obvious, so it doesn’t make my short-list of “RARE” must-haves. But there’s one good exception for consistency and that’s being current. If you can provide RARE messaging that is also very timely, you have a win-win. Just remember, being first with the news is never a replacement for relevance or any of the others.
INSIGHT:
Don’t view the rules of RARE as restrictive, see them as freeing! When you’re RARE, you’re like a good actor or a politician: You strive to keep relevant. You’re true to yourself. You know what your audience wants to hear. And you build high value into the story—even if it’s only entertainment.
I welcome your comments, questions or more discussion.