Getting your customers to remember your business is hard.
It makes sense.
On average your customers see more than 4,000 marketing messages and receive and send more than 100 email and text messages every day.
…Seriously…4,000+ messages every day!
So it’s not surprising that many businesses struggle to stand out.
Their customers are doing everything they can to tune out all that noise because how else could they function if they paid attention to it all?
I came across an ad on TV the other day and instead of flipping to another channel or heading to the kitchen to grab a snack, I actually watched the commercial.
I know, I actually watched a commercial on TV. Imagine that! I watched it because it was genius. I was hooked. I realized I was facing a major problem that I was unaware of before.
The commercial was for Carvana.
Check it out:
Here’s why this is such a great commercial and how it can help you get your customer’s attention.
1. They start with the problem
It’s front and center, within 7 seconds they reveal the big problem: most dealerships charge their customers bogus fees.
What Carvana does so well here is how they frame the problem. By calling it a bogus fee, they’ve taken a problem, a dealership fee, and elevated it into an injustice. It’s bogus!
If you want your customers to pay attention, you have to talk about the problem they’re dealing with. If you don’t, there’s no reason for them to buy your product or service.
Your customers don’t buy products. They buy solutions to the problems they have in their lives.
People buy a massage because they want to get rid of their aches, pains, and stress.
Runners buy a new pair of running shoes because they don’t want to be in pain when they go on a long run or because they’re tired of being slow and want to run faster, longer.
So if you don’t state clearly and simply the problem your customers have, there’s no reason for them to pay attention.
2. They don’t assume their customers know the problem exists
A senior leader at a company I used to work for once said, “the mother of all screwups starts with an assumption.”
In real life, he used a more colorful four-letter word for screwup but you get the picture.
Carvana’s marketing team has the good sense to realize their customers probably don’t have as much knowledge as they do about the auto and dealership industry.
This is a great example of putting themselves in their customer’s shoes and educating them on what they should be aware of.
And they should be aware of how dealerships are ripping them off!
They’ve enlightened their customers. It’s impossible to not think of bogus dealer fees when you’re shopping for a new car. The curtain has been drawn back.
3. They make the problem tangible
If you can turn your problem into a tangible object, the chances of hooking your customers skyrocket. They’ll feel the problem. And it turns out, we’re much more likely to remember how something makes us feel than remember something based on facts or information.
Carvana makes the problem tangible with their team of sleazy car salesmen.
If you’ve ever bought a car before, dealing with a sleazy car salesman is something you understand. They make you feel used, mistreated, and cheated.
4. They keep the problem simple
We have a natural tendency to want to add more.
But more often than not, adding more obscures what’s great.
Carvana could have listed out five other problems customers have when trying to buy from a dealership but it wouldn’t have been as effective.
Why?
Because we can only remember so many things, generally no more than three things.
Instead of listing out multiple problems their customers have, they go deep on just the one, car dealership fees, and they list all the different ways the problem materializes.
The hundred dollar fuel fee, a $600 doc fee, and a cleaning fee.
It makes you realize how many ways dealers are ripping you off and because it supports one main idea they are trying to communicate, it’s easy to remember.
5. They repeat it over and over
The point of marketing is to get your customers to remember you and the key to being remembered is repetition.
Once again, Carvana executes this perfectly. They mention no less than three different ways the main idea of the commercial:
- No bogus fees
- No dealership fees
- Never pay a dealer fee
And then they mention fees over and over again throughout the commercial.
There’s a rule of thumb that says it takes people on average seeing and hearing something seven times before they remember something.
So to be remembered, you have to be repetitive.
After watching this commercial, what are you likely to remember about Carvana? That’s right, they don’t have any dealer fees and if you’re buying from a dealership, you’re being charged bogus fees.
How you can create more effective marketing collateral
If you want to stand out and get your customers to remember who you are, answer these 5 questions:
- What problem does your customer have?
- What are three to five ways the problem materializes or presents itself for your customer?
- How does that problem make your customer feel?
- Can you describe the problem or show it in a way that helps your customers visualize the problem?
- How else can you state the problem?
When you’re able to clearly answer those five questions, run it through your marketing collateral. Add a section to your website that paints a picture of the problem your customers are experiencing.
Start presentations with the problem your customers have. You’ll have them sitting on the edge of their seats.
Make sure your sales brochures clearly state the problem you solve.
When you begin to communicate across all points of contact with your customer the problem they have and how you solve it, you’ll be remembered as the company that can help with the pesky problem they’re dealing with.
When they remember that, they’ll become your customer.
Want to grow your business?
5 game-changing tips to help your business:
- Attract more customers
- Stand out in a sea of noise
- Grow your business.
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