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Give your customers a reason to buy
By Jeff Kear

Do you ever read a print ad, receive a piece of direct mail or hop on to a company's home page and still wonder what in the heck the company does or how their message has anything to do with what they market or sell?

If you do, then you're not alone.

A recent statistic shows that only 1 out of 16 advertisements provide the consumer with a reason to buy.

When I first saw this stat, I was reminded of the old sales adage, "If you don't ask for the sale, you're probably not going to get it." Well, if you don't give someone a valid and compelling reason to purchase your product or service, then they will probably go with someone else who does.

Which leads us to the next logical question: What kind of message can lead a person toward making a purchase?

This can be answered in a thousand ways, but maybe it's best to first consider what people are primarily interested in ... themselves.

By nature, customers are self-interested. No, this doesn't mean that everyone is selfish and always thinking about themselves. But it does mean that, when people are approached by a company marketing its wares, they automatically put up their defenses and say "Oh yeah??? Prove it to me."

So any piece of collateral, print ad, direct mail, Web site or any other marketing material that you produce, if it is going to be effective, must speak to a customer's core question:
* What can this product/service do for me?

Which is then followed by another series of self-interested questions:
* How can it make my life easier?
* Will it help me save money?
* How can it make me seem smarter, cooler or more attractive?
* Why is it better than what I already have or what else is out there?

By answering these questions, you are showing customers how your products or services deliver value, with the operative terms here being "showing" and "value."

Let's tackle "value" first. By clearly communicating the value of your products or services in your marketing and advertising materials, you can answer a customer's core question and clarify many other questions in their mind. Another thing to consider is that a customer who knows the true value and benefit of your product or service is more likely to:
* Recall your message when a need for your type of product or service arises
* Distinguish your product from your competitors' offerings
* Pay a premium for your offerings
* Switch brands because the competition isn't communicating its value well

And as for "showing" your value, I'll regale you with a helpful tip from my creative writing teacher in college. One of the first things he ever told me was that, to be a successful writer, you need to show people how a story unfolds, not tell them about it. In other words, don't say "Joe won the lottery and was very happy" when you can say "After carefully matching each number on his lottery ticket to the numbers in the newspaper and then double checking to make sure he wasn't hallucinating, Joe had to sit down and remind himself to breathe."

I'll give you an example of how this would work in the design and advertising world by asking you which of these headlines makes you more interested:
1. Triple blades make our razors the best in the world.
2. To see how close our triple blades get, you need a microscope.

The first headline is one of those blanket statements that offers no valid reason why the razors are best in the world. The second statement, however, sets up a story about the true value of the razor's triple blade - it gives a microscopically close shave - which is certainly a reason to buy.

So next time you are composing the messaging for your marketing programs, just remember to show your customers the value and give them a reason to buy, and you'll likely already be ahead of the competition.

About the Author
Jeff Kear is a principal at Kear|Stevens, an integrated marketing communications firm in Denver, CO. During his career in marketing and advertising, Jeff has created revenue-generating marketing communications for nationally recognized brands such as Budget, MetLife, Moosehead Beer, Qwest and Toyota. Before his work at Kear|Stevens, Jeff served as a senior-level creative at a few well-respected Denver ad agencies as well as a marketing and communications specialist for a Fortune 500 company.