Photo by Cuisine de mère en fille, et des autres

If you’re selling a mouth-watering delicacy or high-tech software, you might be tempted to highlight some special ingredient that only your product has. You may even go so far to explain how rare, how expensive, or how confidential the ingredient is. Even though the special ingredient is your pride and joy, your prospective customer really doesn’t care a whit.

Your customer isn’t looking for a special ingredient, they’re looking for a solution to their needs. Unless your special ingredient is that magical answer, the specialness is simply an “edge”. Your “edge” may be perceived as a negative by the risk-adverse (what’s the downside to your special ingredient?). Most businesses fall into the trap of highlighting their features, before they’ve ascertained if their customers care about them.

So, if you’ve got a special ingredient, don’t lead with it in your marketing. Use the ingredient to propel your solution to the front of your customer’s mind. For example, “Because we use Persinofex 10 in our cleaning solution, you’ll be able to clean your windows in half the time and they’ll stay clean twice as long”. The benefit isn’t the “Persinofex 10” (whatever that is) – it’s saving time with chores. (For other major benefits, see my previous article Marketing 101).

Keep striving to develop unique ingredients to your offerings, but make sure that you always anchor your uniqueness with something your prospective customers are willing to pay (extra) for. Otherwise, your secret will stay a secret forever.

Photo by skidrd

If you’re selling your creative services, one of the most frustrating (and dangerous) phrases your client can tell you is, “I’ll know when it’s right.” That means your mission isn’t simply to creating something amazing, it’s also to read the mind of your client and discern what they think they’re asking for. The end result is a lot of aggravation by everyone – no one quickly got what they needed.

The better way to is to create a tightly written creative brief. The brief describes the client’s problem, needs, resources, assumptions, and measurable goals. Most people don’t write a brief thinking it’ll take too long (or they don’t have the budget for it). Writing a brief is hard work, and does require solid proactive thinking. It may also require a different set of skills than either you or your client have – a marketing strategist. A strategist can tease out the various needs (both short-term and long-term) and get team agreement.

The creative brief allows everyone to judge choices and outcomes using a objective yardstick. Instead of trying to please someone’s inner judge, it becomes much simpler to see what’s the best option. Often, the best solution isn’t immediately obvious (or loved). It may be too radical, too simple, too expensive, too risky. A person who’s risk-averse might not naturally accept the solution, even if it matches all the specifications/needs described in the brief. The thing that most clients pay attention to is “how does it make me feel?” The right thing they should pay attention to is, “how does it make my clients feel?” They’re the ultimate judge of what works (and why).