by: Catherine Franz
Marketing expert and author, Geoffrey Moore, has a useful fill-in-the-blank method for creating a theme and positioning statement for your business. I prefer to use his same system for creating clarity for myself in what I'm selling, creating an elevator or introduction speech, and also material for my website, brochures and business card.
Using this same method for each niche I have also keeps me focused and on target for where I am going and what comes first. I know it will do the same for you. As a public speaker, I also like to use the same exercise to create a one-line message for each workshop or engagement. This way the participants and I start from the same page. I like to say it provides the tree trunk that all the branches stem from.
This exercise is designed to be simple and achievable in 15 minutes. However, if this seems somewhat daunting, see if your beliefs are still in the clouds of wanting to deliver too much to too many to soon. If this is the case, there is a great book I recommend that will support you in narrowing down: Niche and Grow Rich, by Jennifer and Peter Sander. This book will support you understanding the market place you want to enter and in narrowing your thoughts.
Exercise
For
(Hints: Who is your target customer, your niche? Is there
a geographic relevance? If so, add it. Examples: Seniors,
women business owners, teens between 13 and 18. If a
specific geographic area: Writers in the Washington DC
metro area.)
Who
(Hints: This is where you qualify your target customer and
time of need. Examples: Who are obese. Who are 62 and
older. Who own a business. Who are in high school and take
music.)
Our product/service is
(Hints: What is your product or the service? Our product
is a line of workshops. Our service is training. Our
service is executive coaching. Our service is training or
engineering or accounting.)
That provides
(Hints: What are your key features of this product/service?
What are the major benefits of this product or service?
What are the tradeoffs? That provides shortcuts (software
training) at a discount/premium price. That contains no
chemicals. That contains no hidden costs. That contains
no markups. That contains life support.)
Unlike
(Hints: Who are your competitors? What are the products
not serving the needs of this particular niche? Unlike
other retail sellers, which have.... Unlike store-bought
goods, these.... Unlike other coaches.... Unlike other
workshops....)
Our product/service
(Hints: Your product/service serves this niche by doing
what? Our product/service helps this group increase their
personal leadership skills. Our product/service helps this
group overcome.... Our product/service helps this group
reap the rewards of....
Taking This Forward
Once you have completed this exercise, whether it is for
your overall business theme or better yet a narrower one,
you can move this information forward into all your
marketing information.
Create a paragraph with this information, then edit and
refine the language so that it fits your customer’s reading
style. This is especially important if your style is
different. Each word you use has an energy attached to it.
This energy either detracts or attracts customers.