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Marketing From The Outside In

Written by: Stuart Ayling

Article Overview: Instead of telling prospects what they need to know, too many service firms talk about the features or functionality of their services or products. (This is inside-out.) They really should be taking an outside-in approach to their marketing.

Marketing From The Outside In

Marketing From The Outside In
By Stuart Ayling

It happened again just the other day. I was meeting with a potential client and they were giving me some background on their business. But they were lost.

This business was successful, and had been successful for many years. But over the last few years things have slowed down in the client acquisition department. In fact it had just about stopped.

You see… this firm had focused on developing new products. They were waiting to launch their latest version. They saw lots of opportunities.

But their marketing approach was back-to-front.
Or you could say it was inside-out.

Instead of telling potential clients what they needed to know, most of this firms marketing material was concerned with the latest features and functionality of their product. They were talking from the inside, about what they had – their product – and what it could do.

What they should be doing is taking an outside-in approach to their marketing. They need to start outside of their business, trying to understand the key concerns of their clients. They need to create a central marketing message that answers the important questions that potential clients will have on their minds. And in most cases that goes way beyond “functionality”, and what their product or service does.

Have you taken an outside-in approach to create your marketing message?

Do your marketing materials – brochures, web sites, fact sheets, business cards, check lists etc – reflect the concerns of your clients?

Do you help educate your potential clients so that they understand why they should buy from you, or engage your services?

Do you try and minimise the buyers perceived risks?

These are all ways you can create your marketing message from the outside-in.

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Article Tags: business cards, central marketing, marketing materials, product, Stuart Ayling



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