Marketing – a Little or a Lot?

When you are marketing a product or service, how do compare it to the competition? Is your product 5% better? Are your prices 10% less? Is your offer 100% guaranteed?

Unless your offering is already the market leader, people will naturally be comparing what you're selling with what others are offering. If your product is slightly better or slightly cheaper, it's unlikely that people will pay you much notice. Why should they risk a mistake of not choosing the market leader for small win?

To get noticed, your offer needs to be significant. How much is significant? For large ticket purchases, a few percentage points may tip the scales in your favor. Otherwise, 5-10% will likely be ignored. You want to shock people awake to your offer, so if you truthfully do so, make the claim that your offering is dramatically better - 25%, 50%, even 100% better. Prove it not just with your words, but with testimonials and comparison charts (where appropriate). Groupon typically features 50-90% off discounts - that gets attention.

Once you have your prospect's attention, you need to convince them that your offer isn't just hype. Explain how your service can be 33% better than the competition. Support the claims with white papers and/or testimonials from your happy customers. You don't want your prospects to feel that there's any risk from buying from you - that's why you want social proof to show that you're the smarter choice, and that others have found you as well. Make them feel that they're on the "next great thing", and you've made them feel smarter and safer for risking doing business with you.

People are deluged with messages daily. Have your marketing message stand out by making bold claims that are clearly supported.