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Less is More

Written by: Rebel Brown

Article Overview: The web and digital marketing has given us the chance to deliver more content than ever before. Content that our audience can use to get to know us, our products and our value. That's great news. At least it should be. The problem? We overwhelm our audience, giving them too many options, too many different aspects and angles - and we lose them. We just plain drown them in too much information.

Less is More

I'm working with a new client that's really exciting. Great solutions, great market opportunity, on-the-money strategy and they get the "So What?" approach to solution marketing and selling. Wow! As we work together to create a new positioning story, we're focusing on a single little phrase: Less is More.

Repeat that to yourself again. Then review all of the customer-facing aspects that are your business. In the case of my client - they have lots of diverse value to offer. Every tidbit, large and small, is out there for the world to see and read. I call it the "Throw everything against the wall approach" to marketing.

The problem? Audiences don't know where to focus, where to look for value that's distinctive. They have to pick their way through the website or materials to find what's relevant to them. That assumes a lot; that prospects want to spend their time looking for that pony in the middle of all that 'stuff', that they know where to look and what to look for, that they are in sync with our story - without us taking the time to get them on the same page.

Look at your own positioning and content. Do you lead your audience through a story that's compelling in its focus and simplicity? Or could that website, sales tools or collateral content use a major diet? My bet is you could slim down and everyone would appreciate it. And your results would be better as you helped your audience focus on what matters to them.

The web and digital marketing has given us the chance to deliver more content than ever before. Content that our audience can use to get to know us, our products and our value. That's great news. At least it should be.

The problem is that with all that opportunity to touch our audience, and with all those different perspectives out there - we end up deluging everyone with information. Each and every idea ends up as its own unique stand-alone communication. Sometimes ideas are tied together as a customer-centric story, more often they are fragments that we expect our audience to tie together for themselves.

We overwhelm our audience, giving them too many options, too many different aspects and angles - and we lose them. We just plain drown them in too much information.

If you consistently strive for a ‘Less is More' approach to communicating, you'll get better results.

• You'll tell stories that relate your value to your audience's needs in a clear, compelling way.
• You'll hone in on the things that really are distinct about your business and its offerings.
• You'll get everyone on the same page, so they can easily understand and apply your value to their own world.

Less is More is a simple approach to communicating our value. Say only what truly matters, and leave the details for the follow-up. You may be excited about all those details, and they may truly be important. But your audience probably hasn't even grasped the core story yet. So adding all those details simply serves to confuse them.

Tell your story simply and in a way that draws your audience to want to learn more. You get the chance to share those details as part of a 1:1 personalized communication. That's more powerful, plus it draws you into a relationship with that prospect. Isn't that what we want anyway?

Take my new client. They have so much value in so many directions, they want to shout it all to the rooftops. But no one is hearing them. Worse yet, everyone is hearing something different because there is no overarching story to hold their evidence together. Everything is a random one-off communication - fragmenting their story and their value.

We're working hard on a Less is More approach. And you know what? People from the board of directors to the executive team are all having those priceless "Ah Ha" moments - and truly grasping the power behind this business. As for the customer audience - well, they're all clamoring at the doors for the new solution and my client is having high value conversation after conversation.

Less is More has become their sales and marketing rally cry - they're excited about the idea of a laser focused communication strategy versus their traditional scatter-gun approach.

Would you be too?

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Article Tags: audience focus, audiences, bet, collateral, different perspectives, digital marketing, great news, great solutions, market opportunity, money strategy, phrase, pony, prospects, sales tools, simplicity, slim down, solution marketing, sync, taking the time, tidbit



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