From the course: Building an Integrated Online Marketing Plan

Knowing who you are

From the course: Building an Integrated Online Marketing Plan

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Knowing who you are

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- [Instructor] Before we even begin talking about customers and strategy, it all starts with knowing yourself and your company. How many times have you ever talked to a sales person and after they've given their spiel, you're still not convinced if it's even worth listening to anything more they have to say? You see, that's because they haven't properly communicated their value statement. Sometimes we hear sales pitches that are more focused on the company than our needs. And so your customer needs to know what value you provide. So when asking, who are you? What I want to know is what drives you? As a business owner or working for a company, what makes you get up in the morning and tell the world about your company? Maybe you have a better product maybe you just have a passion for this business or maybe there are other reasons that drive you to do what you're doing. Because that will influence how you are the better option on the marketplace. When I ask people that question, why are you the best in your business? Or why should people choose you? I get a variety of answers about service, quality, our innovation, my experience. You see the problem with those responses is they're very company-focused. They rely on our service, our quality, my experience. The problem there is it's all internally-focused. It's all about the company. You're not looking at it from a customer value standpoint. And so if your focus is service, show me a specific customer example. How do you deliver that service to the customer? If you say that our difference is quality, what is it about that quality that makes you better? What is it to the end user that makes it better? Focus your response on the customer. Because this is what is in the customer's head. They want to know what's in it for me? What's my value? So all of your presentation about how long your company's been in business, or how many years the founders are there, or anything like that, people don't listen to that. What people want to know is what's in it for me? What's my value? Because when they see the value, then they're on board with what you have to offer. So look at what your company is doing, look at how you're communicating. Is it a monetary value? Are you saving them money? Is it functional? Something that will save them time? Or is it tangible, just something to own? Or is it more of a deeper emotional need? Identify the value that you are giving to the customer. For this courses we're going to use an example site. The site we're using is ExploreCalifornia.org. Now I'm going to go to the mission page to get a sense of, number one, what makes them tick? What are they passionate about? And here we can see very early, they're passionate about California and the abundant resources that you'll find there for hiking, biking, or simply enjoying the lifestyle there. Here's their goal for you. Is they want to transform your vacation into an adventure that will educate, inspire, and energize you. So it's a more customer-focused satisfaction. Here's what you're going to get out of this. I like that example. Because it does focus on the end result of the customer. So when I ask you, what does your company do? Is your response customer-focused? Does it clearly define the value that I would see or experience as a customer of your company?

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