Let’s be honest, even up-close sugar and salt look pretty similar. So how do we manage to avoid putting salt in our cuppa and what does this have to do with my business?
It’s all to do with differentiation, packaging and marketing.
Visually a salt cellar looks very different from a sugar bowl, the container is the giveaway and that’s what helps us differentiate between sugar and salt. In other words, the packaging helps us decide, and informs our decision. We do this subliminally every day with so many things, we just don’t think about why we chose a particular vegetable in the supermarket, or clicked on a link that appears in a google search, we just do it.
So how do you effectively distinguish our product or service from similar offerings in the market?
If prospective customers don’t know you, you can’t rely on amazing customer service to win their business, you’ll be judged on the effectiveness of your marketing and the image it creates.
If you put salt in the sugar bowl, people will expect sugar, and be more than just a little disappointed when they get the taste of salt. This might just put them off for good, you’ll never win them back, so you need to be smart.
This means taking your marketing really seriously, your prospective customers will form an immediate impression of you, so it’s your job to ensure the image and the packaging you present gives them the right first impression. If you get this right, they’ll come to you and much more likely to be engaged and ready to have a meaningful conversation with you, that’s significantly more likely to turn into a sale.
Let’s not kid ourselves, this isn’t easy. In a digitally enlightened world, potential customers have much easier access to our competitors, online reviews and feedback as well as just finding us in the first place. Powerful first impressions are even more important to build confidence, trust and credibility.
First impressions are critical to success
If a prospective customer had never heard of you, what impression would they have, based on the way you package your business, and how you show your different? Back to sugar and salt here, but you can see how important it is to package or differentiate, especially when you can’t taste it.
Does your business look like the best option, when compared to your competitors? Do you have something that makes you stand out? If it does and you’re attracting customers every day then that’s brilliant news.
If you don’t then you need to fix your marketing.
Being in business today has never been more competitive. As consumers searching for the next gadget, google presents us with 10 options in seconds. These options only appear after the ads that pop up first. Obviously the same happens when potential customers are searching, even if you appear on the first page of google you will be one of perhaps 15 or more options prospective customers have to choose from.
If your marketing doesn’t create a better first impression than your competitors, then they win the sales leads, not you.
You can see how important it is to get your marketing right and why marketing is so essential today.
If you’d like to understand how to reach more customers, attract more leads and generate more sales, give us a call .
