A customer's selection of one product over another is not simply driven by the technical specifications of the product but rather involves both an emotional and logical decision making process. The key is that the emotional piece is what drives a consumer to act. People naturally long to be a part of something bigger, a larger group, and the emotional connection with a brand can provide that bigger something. Your target market should include those people who relate to the emotional elements of your offering as well as those who need your product from a utilitarian perspective. So when developing advertising material or an elevator pitch, think about what it is that connects your customers to your product or service and capitalize on the opportunity to stand out from the crowd by meeting that emotional need as well as providing the product the customer desires. It may mean the difference between one sale and a long-term relationship with a customer.
I recently attended a seminar where Lorraine Howell of Media Skills Training coached us on preparing an "elevator speech." The premise is that if you get on an elevator and someone asks, "What do you do?" you have a concise way of communicating your business. Most importantly, Lorraine says, "The goal is to generate interest." Think about who your audience is, what they care about, and how you serve them better than anyone else. Sometimes the hook is to put your "passion" out there and communicate why you love what you do... of course, this should be sincere! In other cases, a key element of the elevator speech is to communicate the characteristics that your customers value in your product or service. Oftentimes, you need to spell out specific examples to provide something concrete for your listener to relate to. You'll need to practice this a bit -- try it out and tweak it based on feedback or general reactions you get from your listeners. After some prodding from Lorraine, I have come up with a couple of versions to test out... maybe you'll hear one and provide feedback when we meet!
The Wall Street Journal reported today that the cosmetics store Sephora, owned by LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vitton, was recently sued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of 5 Spanish-speaking latino workers who were reprimanded for speaking Spanish to one another even on their breaks. The company had not officially implemented an "English-Only" rule which has been found to be discriminatory in other companies. The company may still be found to have harrassed employees by asking them not to speak Spanish to one another. Many companies use English-Only policies to ensure English speaking customers and workers are not alienated in the work environment. Under Federal law, such policies are acceptable if the requirement to speak English is justified by business necessity or safety concerns. As many small businesses are exempt from employment discrimination laws, you may wonder what the relevance of this topic is for you. With any employment policy, consider the reason behind the policy and the implication to all stakeholders. Consider whether any negative interpretations or perceptions may arise from implementation of the policy and whether other mechanisms or implementations may serve the purpose without these negative elements. Most importantly, communicate the policy clearly to employees and solicit feedback. Your employees are the face of your business to your customers and often your key quality control point for customer service. Be sure they feel that they are treated with respect and a valued part of the business.
Many large companies face vocal critics of their business practices often focusing on domestic or international hiring and wage issues or envrionmental issues. Companies typically confront these challenges with a signficant use of PR to play them down or downright deny them. Wal-Mart is a company that has traditionally viewed PR expense as unnecessary but as it faces more and more vocal and ambitious efforts to bring Wal-Mart's practices to light, the company is finding growth in a new segment difficult. Wal-Mart has been struggling to capture the upper-middle class market share but is finding this group to be not only interested in low-cost (which Wal-Mart easily provides) but also image (which it is struggling with). In response, Wal-Mart is working with top advisors and image makers that have historically been behind key political campaigns to create a strategy for reaching this market. A couple of lessons to be learned from Wal-Mart: 1) Public Relations and Corporate Communications are essential, regardless of your business size. As most small business owners know, your name and reputation are key to success and growth in the market. The more people that know about you and your business and respect your business practices, the more referrals and repeat business you can expect; and 2) Always be thinking about how your actions today may impact your ability to move into a new segment or reach a new audience in the future. That being said, small businesses are nimble -- a significant advantage over their competitors -- and changing your route mid-stream to capitalize on an opportunity may make sense even if it means conflicting with prior words or actions. You'll simply have to weigh the PR implications against the market opportunity. For more info on Wal-Mart's War Room see The New York Times article.
design by | XSIVE 1 STUDIOS™