PMi eNewsletter 6-07 | Ivana JohnstonDate Submitted: 6/1/2007 1:30:57 PM

It's no secret that one of the keys to a successful product or service introduction is the right message directed to the right market. It's a concept that's simple and fundamental. Where the issue starts to get fuzzy is how to develop and deliver the message.

Forget the mumbo jumbo trendy terms that Marketing & PR gurus are using to convince us of what's hot and what's not-- the secret is to address the customer's pain.

Remarkably, many companies never do. They are so busy developing "brand awareness" and "domain dominance" that they never take the the time to actually tell the customer how they're going to take away their pain.

Let's face it.Your customers don't care about you. Customers are selfish and self-centered (in a good way). They care about themselves, and they will let you into their lives only if they think you care about them too.

By addressing your customer's pain, you will save time, money, and effort. It will enable you to focus your marketing efforts on features that are of value to your potential customer, not your perception of what is important. For example, if your product is twice as fast as the competitions', but customers are only concerned about size, all efforts directed at touting speed are wasted. You need to talk about size, regardless of how proud you are of your product's speed.

Beat your quality-product chest all you want: it will just put them to sleep. Bombard them with feature bullet points: they'll just get up and walk away. And they'll keep walking until they find some who ha listened to what ails them and offers them a cure.

But, use effective strategic and tactical marketing techniques, listen to them carefully and closely and sincerely, and let them know just this--that you've heard them and that you understand what you've learned by listening... and they will then give you permission to start talking.

Bottom Line: Realize that effective marketing is really more about listening than talking. Your customer's pain dictates the message, and without knowing their pain- you are unlikely to gain their business.

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