Keeping a Distance from Your Products
Is it possible to be too close to your products or services? You can’t actually know too much about your own offerings, can you?
Well, yes. It’s one thing to be knowledgeable about your market and products. It’s another to be so immersed in the details of your own offerings and point of view that you lose sight of the big picture, such as what the customer wants and doesn’t want, as well as developing trends in the marketplace.
To avoid this scenario, actively solicit input from people who are not as close to your product as you are. Ask potential customers or prospects to review your positioning. Show your marketing materials to people outside your industry to see whether they understand your messages without a lot of extra explanation. Work with vendors and suppliers who regularly support a broader client base, so that they have a fresh, more open point of view.
Leverage Point Checklist:
- Have we solicited customer/prospect input before creating a new marketing campaign?
- Do our messages resonate with potential customers?
- Do we know how our competitors’ messages are received by our target market?
- Have we kept up with the latest trends in our key markets?
- Have we eliminated all unnecessary jargon and slang?
- Have we been considerate of our global audience and not made our materials too US-centric?
- Can an outsider look at our marketing collateral and easily understand and articulate our key messages?
