“WIIFM, playing all the hits for you, it’s all you, all day. We only talk about you all the time.” Is your message broadcasting on Station WIIFM? It should be, it’s our favorite channel.
WIIFM – What’s In It For Me – that’s what we want to hear when we look at any website, read a blog, use social media sites, read e-mails, watch videos or anything else you put out to promote your business. We want to know if your product or service will fix our problem. How can you save us money or make life easier?
Sounds pretty obvious doesn’t it? In fact it’s so obvious that the marketing message of the business is all about them. “We offer the best…”, “We have years of experience”, “We give the best service.” The only problem is, the customer is listening to their channel, not yours. Customers don’t care about you or your business. They want to know what you can do for them.
If you want to create an effective marketing message address the consumer. The home page of your website or your blog should point out what you do in terms of benefits to the customer. Your services page should define everything you do, no matter how obvious it may sound. For example, if your pool cleaning service, do you provide the chemicals? You think, “everybody knows we do that” but if your marketing messages, your website or your blog, don’t say you do, but your competitor’s site does, is a good chance they’re going to your competitor.
An About Us page can be a boring narrative of your background and experience or it could focus on your passion, your philosophy and your mission. There’s something about doing business with, someone who is passionate about what they do, especially if that passion translates into a love for helping their customers. Even though, in a face-to-face meeting, your passion is apparent, how do you get that face-to-face meeting from a boring website?
Don’t be afraid to let your personality shows through your website or your blog. Have you ever seen a photo on a business card and then meet the person face-to-face and wondered, is this your daughter’s picture? The same is true for your online presence (not just the photos); let your potential customer know who they’re dealing with. You may think, “but I don’t want to alienate a potential customer.” I’ve got news for you. If they don’t like the personality your online presence portrays, chances are pretty good they wouldn’t to like you in person either.
WIIFM is like one of the satellite radio stations, you can tune into it everywhere you go. Make sure your marketing message is broadcasting on the right frequency. After all, it’s not about you.
Are you new to Google + or curious about how to get started? Download my free Guide to Google + at www.800bizninjamarketing.com. Gary Wagnon is the CMN (Chief Marketing Ninja) at 800biz Online Marketing Solutions. Using an integrated approach to online marketing (combining web site design, search engine optimization, social media and action driven content), 800biz specializes in helping businesses stand out above the competition and drive more traffic to their door.