I am often asked to assist clients improve their marketing efforts and “take them to the next level.” It is very common that a successful company has grown their business to a certain point, hit a plateau, and stop experiencing the growth they saw early on. Many times people will have something in mind that they feel is the “one thing” they need to do.
For example, many believe revising their website or a video is the perfect solution to reaching their goals. Often, companies have no idea what the new shiny marketing activity is and they are looking for that. Many prospective clients think we can sit down, they will rattle off a check list of all the marketing activities they are doing and then I will provide the magic bullet to take their business to the next level. While this approach is very common, following the “new shiny” isn’t a sustainable solution. Instead, we like to take a more holistic and strategic approach to our advice.
What in the marketing world is working?
I was approached by a client recently with a similar request. We met for lunch and I listened intently to the client describe how successful they have been with marketing. What things were working. They had even done the hard work of self-reflection on things that weren’t working and areas where they felt they needed to do better. Once I heard all they had to say I began asking them a series of questions we have prepared to help our clients create their custom roadmap to success. These questions helped them organize their efforts and allocate resources toward those activities that will help them meet their most critical needs. We also defined realistic goals and developed an action plan to achievement. With each client we work alongside, we take care to clearly identify the measure of success and how to track and celebrate those successes. During this process we always have at least one, if not several, “ah-ha” moments. This is the most gratifying part of the process for all involved.
Sparking something new… or is it?
This encounter was no exception. It was our goal to spark an epiphany and create dialog that would ultimately lead to the next level they desired. Question after question, I heard, “you make a good point,” even though they were doing most of the talking. I was merely facilitating the information they already knew. But, they didn’t realize what they knew until the questions were asked. Most professionals know their business better than anyone. They are the subject matter experts in their industries. They just need our help organizing that information into a plan with action items to where they want to go. No outsider can tell you where you want to go. They can share where trends are moving, but even that is information you probably already know yourself — it is your industry. What we can do is provide a roadmap to how you get there and why.
Why is your value add a secret?
The biggest “ah-ha” moment of the day was learning that they had unique strengths and offered value-added services to their customers that were a complete secret. The only way to know about these secrets was to have worked with the company previously. While 40 percent of their work was from repeat business AND the majority of new clients were obtained through referrals of some sort, they were not leveraging their clients’ experiences in any way. They also were not publicly defining the value-added services to others.
Now knowing their competitive advantage, our next-step is to define a strategy to share that information with potential customers. We are just beginning the process of taking the information we discovered in our marketing evaluation and assessment planning meeting, but I can guarantee we have what we need to take this to the next level. And you can see the sparkle in their eyes because they see it too and are rejuvenated and refocused on growing things.
So, what is your competitive advantage? If you need help discovering your value add and defining how to communicate your competitive advantage to the world, let us help you spark that process. We are passionate about helping make sure you are not keeping your value a secret and realize the opportunities that are waiting to be unleashed.
Photo Cred: Ben White
