3 Simple Marketing Habits To Transform Your Year
This is the year that I lose 30 pounds! Or read 52 books. Better yet, run a marathon. Or finally start budgeting.
New Year’s is the best, right? It’s when we dream up the big sweeping changes that will finally help us become who we want to be. But here’s the thing - true, sustainable growth doesn’t come from deploying massive changes all at once. It comes from activating small, steady habits. Simple pivots lead to huge results.
For more on this idea, check out Atomic Habits by James Clear. It has been a game-changer for us at Decoded Strategies.
Building strong habits isn’t only beneficial for your personal life. It will also revolutionize the way you market your business.
Here are 3 marketing habits you can begin building today. They are simple. They are small. And they have the power to change everything.
Number 1
Sell your benefits, not your features
You have cool features. You’ve spent a ton of time developing them and making them awesome. Now you want to talk about them. We get it. We love great features too! But your features won’t sell your product. Your benefits will.
People buy benefits, not features.
So every time you market your product and you begin describing features, push yourself to name the benefits. How will this feature make their life better? Tell them that.
If you need help identifying the benefits of a feature or product, check out Harvard Business Review’s The Elements of Value.
People only want your features if they lead to benefits. Save them the energy of trying to figure out what those benefits are. Tell them.
Number 2
Choose clarity over cleverness, every time
Hey, we love funny Super Bowl ads too. But if you have the most clever ad in the world and no one can figure out what you offer, you just wasted your money.
Your customers are busy. The world is demanding their attention. They do not have time to figure out what you do. So when you are marketing anything, ask yourself the question, “Is this clear?” Be willing to sacrifice the best idea in the world if it’s not clear.
Clear beats clever, every time. So build the daily habit of choosing clarity in every piece of marketing collateral you produce.
Number 3
Focus on your customer, not yourself
Have you ever been on a really bad date? The kind where your date talks about themself non-stop and never asks you any questions… yeah, we have too.
That is what brands do in their marketing when they focus only on themselves, and not their customer.
The best small habit you can build this year is to always adjust your messaging back to your customer. What do they want? What problem are they dealing with? How can your product make their life better?
These are small pivots, but they will have dramatic results on the way your customer receives your message.
2020 was a rough year for businesses. Many didn’t survive. But 2021 is a new story. Join us in living out these simple (but powerful) habits to ensure this is the year our businesses thrive.
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