When you are marketing a business, there are numerous ways you can approach your message. Even when you are marketing the same offering in the same season to the same target market, you have options. At a simplistic level, one option you have is to take the positive or negative approach. Let’s talk about this root decision of highlighting the positive or negative angles of your marketing message.
First, what do I mean by positive or negative angles?
Your offerings have benefits for your target market. Talking about those benefits shows your offerings through a positive lens. Any real or perceived good result that comes from your products or services is a positive angle you can take in your marketing. In this case, it’s all about highlighting the value to be gained for those who make the investment.
There’s also a flip side. There is an opportunity cost of NOT buying what you sell. For all those people who haven’t bought your product or service yet, what are they missing out on? That’s the negative angle.
I’ll give you an example. Years ago, I was doing a talk in Hawaii about how to define your brand. At the end of the talk, one of the attendees came up to me to ask follow-up questions about how to frame the marketing of his services. He worked in technology. His most popular offering was restoring damaged phone screens. His default message can come from the position of showing prospects the value of having a new screen. He could talk about the ease of use, faster/more efficient use, how others perceive a nice, new screen. But, in our conversation we also uncovered the power of the negative angle. What if he promoted his service, for example, by displaying special, meaningful, images – like beloved family photos – through a distorted, cracked screen? Would it get more customers on board if he showed them the unfortunate aspects of their current situation?
There is always a negative and a positive angle you can take, and – generally speaking – those angles tap into different kinds of customers. Before I go on, if your business is one where you are selling something that has stigma attached to it, READ HERE. This situation may impact your choices, and I do have recommendations for you.
Some buyers are motivated by the benefits, the value, and the way you are empowering them. Some are motivated by what they don’t want to lose or how they don’t want to lose out. Not every prospect in your pipeline wants what you sell for the same reason. Different prospects have different motivations.
Not every prospect in your pipeline wants what you sell for the same reason. #marketing #sales #business #smallbusiness #smb #smallbiz #entrepreneur
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So, which angle is right for your business? Is it better to market from a positive or negative angle?
This answer is for you to test and evaluate over time. There is no way to know exactly what your audience will respond to until you experiment with it. If all things are created equal, and you would be happy to have a mix of personality types and motivations in your funnel, then start planting seeds to test out the types of messaging that get the strongest response. Track the results and do more of what works.
And, of course, keep running these experiments as you promote your offerings, because you want to stay on top of changes in how your audience reacts.
The other strategy you can take is to pick the angle you want. If you want to attract people who will respond to the positive messaging, then your marketing should be framed that way. Same with the negative messaging. Let’s say, for example, that the FOMO is strong in your desired audience. Market from the negative angle and stay consistent with that theme through the sales process. You can lean into the type of customers you want by making distinct choices in how you speak to them in your marketing. Just know that you are making decisions up front about who you are weeding in and who you are weeding out.
You can lean into the type of customers you want by making distinct choices in how you speak to them in your marketing. #business #smallbusiness #smallbiz #smb #entrepreneur
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When it comes to marketing, there are so many ways to frame your message. Exploring what works the best for your business is an ongoing process, but a fruitful one to undertake. If you are looking for a place to begin, start by playing with this idea of taking the positive or negative angle in your message and see what gets the best results!
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