I’ve just come back from a wonderful week in Sorrento and am now back at my desk wondering how it all went by so quickly.

One interesting little anomaly that I was reminded of whilst I was away was that of my significant other’s understanding of temperature. On our first morning I remarked that it was 32 degrees, “an extremely warm morning indeed” I said, ever one for the fantastically obvious.

“What’s that in old money?” she enquired, clearly unsatisfied with the current level of information being provided. I didn’t have a clue what the equivalent reading in Fahrenheit was so couldn’t oblige any further.

What was interesting was that the centigrade reading was all I needed to tell me what sort of day it was, I needed no further reference point or supporting information to make sense of the initial reading. I was completely satisfied and had all the information I wanted. In fact, I was actually becoming a little frustrated by my chosen life partner that she too could not make do with what was, in my humble opinion, the whole story with no further need for embellishment.

Often when we’re working with clients, particularly new ones, we need to tease out them what benefits their company brings to their clients. What is obvious to them is rarely as obvious to their chosen markets and so much work needs to done before the campaign is roadworthy.

Reference Point

For example, we worked recently with a software developer who wanted to promote their latest programs to the NHS. This software did all sorts of things and was designed to save time and money. You’d think, therefore, that this message would be all that was required to help pique interest and encourage the recipient to agree to a face to face meeting at the earliest moment. Not a bit of it. Saving time and money had no reference for them. On its own it didn’t mean anything.

We dug deeper and found out that all hospitals were under the cosh regarding the governments’ aggressive funding gap initiatives with all hospitals expected to cut direct patient care costs by 35% in real terms before the end of the next financial year.

BINGO! By talking about these reforms and pointing out that this software would bring about over 50% of the required savings within 2 years of implementation they sat up and listened.

Why? Because now it meant something, they had a point of reference and our product represented the solution to their needs. To strengthen the deal still further all we needed to do was to underline why our product alone could do this for them and the flood gates opened.

How could you apply these principles to your offering? What is it about your product or service that uniquely meets your client’s needs and how do you convey that message in a way that makes perfect sense to them?
With a little thought and practice you can make huge differences to the outcomes of your marketing by doing nothing more than thinking about the above principles. and if you’d like any help or advice don’t hesiate to ask, it’s what we’re here for.

Ciao for now.