June's Feature Article: Building Differentiation with Your Web Site Messaging
In this issue, we'll explore how creating clear differentiation and sales messaging is a best practice you shouldn't ignore in your next site redesign.
Differentiation and Sales Messaging
Over 70% of adults now use the internet as a primary information source for goods and services (The Kelsey Group, 2005). What that means to businesses is that instead of going to the electronics store to look at things like digital cameras, consumers are likely to examine their alternatives online. And it's not just consumers doing initial research over the internet. Corporate procurement departments now evaluate vendor web sites to decide who makes the first cut before RFPs are ever sent out.
Your Initial Ante Only Gets You in the Game
This puts a huge burden on your web site to not only provide potential customers with the information they're looking for, but also to make your offerings stand out from the competition. The first paragraph of your home page should explain concisely what you do. The next paragraphs should set you apart. Offering what people expect is like offering the minimum bid for playing the hand. To stay in the game, you'll need to raise the stakes above the bare minimum.
Tell the World You're the First, Best, and Only Choice
What do you offer that your competitors don't? What would prospective customers get from you that they could get nowhere else?
- Are you the biggest? (Biggest how?)
- Do you offer the widest selection?
- Do you have the most advanced equipment?
- Are you using patented technology?
- Does your firm have the most experience?
- Do you have more convenient locations?
- Does your product have a more stylish design?
It's likely you already have good idea of some of your advantages, but it's important to write them down if you haven't already. These are not only the foundation for powerful messages; they're the keys to your ongoing success.
Building Emotional Impact
Now put yourself in your customers' shoes. What motivates them? What solutions do you provide to ease their pains, alleviate their fears, and help them reach their aspirations? Ads for pain-relievers often follow the formula "Find the pain. Emphasize the pain. Provide a solution to the pain." Avis helps you imagine what the world would be like if they didn't "try harder." Nike doesn't advertise equipment; they advertise the passion of sport. What resonates with your target audience?
Paint a Picture
What is your customer's world like without you? How will their world be better with you in the picture? Your job is to help your potential customers see this picture, and realize that what you offer is the best way they can get it. As much as business training helps us make rational decisions, the majority of buying decisions are still made first on emotion, and justified using logic after the fact. (Did you really need all those features on your new laptop?)
Charting Your Undiscovered Advantages
Many marketing differentiators are discovered by accident. Proctor & Gamble affords us a good example. Though Ivory soap (known simply as "P&G White Soap" until 1879) has carried the same unique properties since its introduction in the 1860s, it wasn't until 1881 that it "discovered" its famous 99.44% Pure differentiator, and it took another ten years to find that there was demand for yet another of its properties, "It Floats." (Proctor & Gamble, 2005) Which of your company's best differentiators are hiding in plain sight, waiting to be discovered?
Five Tests of a Strong Message
In our consulting practice, we often spend several days with clients, mapping out features and benefits vs. competitors, exploring who their best customers are and why, examining what drives buying decisions for those customers, and helping our clients creatively craft messages that highlight areas in which they will always win while building emotional impact. Each of the 3-5 top-level differentiators we come up with must meet the following five tests:
- Is it important to the customer?
- Is it unique to this company, product, or service?
- Is this a sustainable competitive advantage?
- Is it memorable?
- Is this advantage easy to prove?
Lots of Work, Sound Investment
Does this sound like a lot of work? You bet. But it's not time spent, it's time invested. What you end up with is sales messaging that can be repeated and reinforced consistently everywhere - in your print materials, advertising, sales presentations, internal communications, press releases - you name it. Developing solid messaging isn't just necessary for your web site. It's critical to your business, and central to building your brand.
Continued Next Month...
In next month's installment, we'll explore how search engine visibility is a best practice you shouldn't ignore for your next site redesign. Are you one of those people that likes to read ahead? Download an abstract here (79K PDF).
Last month's newsletter focused on look-and-feel, clear navigation, visual hierarchy, and easy-to-scan text. You can read last month's article here.
ReferencesProctor & Gamble. (2005). Pure Fun: Ivory History. Retrieved June 11, 2007, from Ivory Web Site: http://www.ivory.com/PureFun_History.htm
The Kelsey Group. (2005, March 22). New Research by The Kelsey Group and ConStat Indicates 70% of U.S. Households Now Use the Internet When Shopping Locally for Products and Services. Retrieved June 11, 2007, from The Kelsey Group: http://www.kelseygroup.com/press/pr050322.asp
About the Author
Dan Wilson is a marketing consultant who has been helping companies reach the next level through their communications efforts for over 13 years. Dan's passion for helping clients achieve their goals has led to many successful campaign launches for Fortune 1000 companies. Dan also served for several years on the program advisory panel for UC Davis Extension, developing course curriculum for and teaching web design and multimedia courses. Dan holds an AA in Art and a BS in Business Marketing, and is the Principal and Founder of Brand, Etc. LLC, a brand development and marketing communications firm based in the Sierra Foothills.
Since You Asked...
Based on reader feedback, we're moving to a shorter format (under 1,000 words) and sending newsletters twice a month. How do you like the newsletter? Have a topic suggestion? Drop us a note.
Last month's newsletter covered the importance of look-and-feel, clear navigation, visual hierarchy, and easy-to-scan text. You can read it here.
Want a sneak peek at all ten best practices? Download an abstract here (79K PDF).
This Month's Quote
"Kodak sells cameras, but they don't advertise cameras. They advertise memories."
-Theodore Parker
Did You Know?
According to our recent web site effectiveness study that examined over 200 leading regional companies in eight best-practice dimensions:
- 5% had no web site
- Public companies ranked roughly 25% higher than private companies in every dimension
- Surprisingly, companies with $5-10M annual revenue consistently ranked higher than those with $20-50M annual revenue