About once a month I run a drop in business clinic where existing business owners or people looking to start a business can drop in and have a free 45-minute consulting session. I find it really stimulating and sometimes challenging. I never know what I’m going to be facing or what their problems are.
However the other week it was a matter of deja vu, with each of the 4 people I saw having the exact same issue.
I’m going to assume that they’d all been to a seminar or something similar on social media as they all came in and said “I’ve been told that to get customers I need to be on instagram, I don’t know what to do?” Okay I said “let’s break this down and look at what you’re actually trying to achieve and why I feel the advice you’ve been given is somewhat lacking”. I started to explain the Venn Diagram of Customer Acquisition:-
Customer Acquisition
The Venn diagram’s purpose is to get you thinking about the four elements that you need working together to acquire customers. It starts with your value proposition.
- The Value Proposition is one of those ‘jargon’ statements. As a concept, it’s really quite simple. The Value proposition is a statement of what value you bring to the marketplace, it’s the thing that determines whether people will bother reading more about your product or service and eventually buy it from you. So what exactly is a value proposition?
A value proposition is a promise of value to be delivered. It’s the primary reason a prospect should buy from you. In a nutshell, value proposition is a clear statement that:-
- It explains how your product solves customers’ problems or improves their situation (relevancy),
- It highlights how you deliver specific benefits (quantified value),
- It informs the ideal customer why they should buy from you and not from the competition (unique differentiation).
- Once you have your value proposition sorted, you need to think about your Who, who is your product or service primarily designed for. What problem do you solve for them. Often called your ideal client these are the people who find the perfect solution to their problems or needs in the services or products that your company provides. The Ideal Client will be loyal to your company, frequently uses or buys your products or services, and is likely to recommend you to their friends and colleagues. Crafting your ‘Who’ statement can be a rewarding experience as you realise exactly your target market. This understanding is rarer than you realise.
- You now have two parts of the picture. The next step is to craft ‘What’ to say to your ‘Who’. What message will resonate with them? What message will hit their pain-points and make them realise that you have the solution to their problem? The basic formula for crafting a Marketing message is “Problem, Agitate, Solution”. “When you understand that people are more likely to act to avoid pain than to get gain, you’ll understand how powerful this first formula is. (…) It may be the most reliable sales formula ever invented.” ~ Dan Kennedy
This formula is powerful because problems can attract even more attention than benefits. People want to avoid pain, hassle, risks, glitches, and problems. So how does the formula work? It’s simple: First you describe a problem, then you agitate by highlighting the emotions that go with the problem, and then you offer your solution.
- The final part of our Venn diagram is the ‘Where’ function. Having developed a value proposition that’s irresistible, crafted a perfect ‘Who’ its for and then developed a great message you now need to know where to put it. Where will your prospect see your message and have the opportunity to react to it? This might be your website, it may be when you’re networking, or even on the outside of your premises, it could be the local radio station or TV network, even old fashioned newspaper. The point is that it needs to be where your prospective prospect can see or hear it.
However, and this is where we get back to the beginning of this story, there is no point in deciding the ‘Where’ e.g Instagram or Facebook or networking before you’ve completed the other three steps first. As having the wrong value proposition (Why) to the wrong person (Who) with the wrong message (What) will not work no matter (Where) you put it. And this was the problem that the attendees of my business clinic had, they’d been told the ‘Where’ before they’d carried out any of the other steps.
I have several tools that are really useful to help you develop each of these steps, including a USP builder, the step by step guide to creating a great value proposition and guides to help you develop your Who, What and Where’s. Drop me a line and I’ll send you copies.
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