Ask yourself, are you really marketing to your customer?

Or are you like most of us and unknowingly marketing to yourself? It’s a tough distinction for some of us to grasp. All too often, our marketing pieces talk about our company, our brand. You might be wondering, what is wrong with that?

The problem is that it doesn’t give your potential customer the WIFM in the few seconds that they’re looking at your advertising materials. The, “What’s In It For Me” factor.

We often don’t really consider what our customers’ needs are when we are working on headlines, copy, emails, etc. Our advertising materials go on about the features of our product, not the benefits. The features, though important to us, definitely aren’t the focus of our customer. Think about your customer and what’s important to them. They want to know the benefits to them, the WIFM.

“Our community is gated” “Our offices are spacious” “Our landscaping is remarkable.”

These are the features of your property. Why not change the focus from features to the benefits to your customer?

“Our community is gated” becomes “Controlled access for your convenience”

“Our offices are spacious” becomes “Wow your clients with your huge office”

“Our landscaping is remarkable” becomes “Enjoy nature as you walk around your beautiful new community”

If you find it hard to change that way of thinking, sit down with a piece of paper and write down all the features of your property or your community. Then next to them, write down the benefit to your customer; this becomes yours WIFM list. Keep that WIFM list handy and pull it out the next time you have to do a flyer, an ad or an email.

Help your marketing materials stand out among the many others that only talk about their features!