Nobody Cares About You!

Nobody Cares About You!
Are you hung up on yourself? Most likely, you replied with
an adamant "no!" But ' does your marketing say otherwise?

When someone visits your website, is it all about you? Do
you talk about how you work, your qualifications, your past
customers? The truth is, Nobody Cares About You ' yet.

When you are networking, emailing, direct mailing,
blogging, etc., is it all about you and how you work?

When people are first touched by your marketing message,
they are really only concerned about themselves and their
problems. They want solutions to their problems and they
want their needs met. Initially, your education, your
process and experience are the last things they care about.

For example, today I was looking for a way to repair my
washing machine. I went to the manufacturer's website and
the only thing on my mind was how to get my washing machine
fixed as fast and inexpensively as possible. I did not
care about their huge new product line or their store
locations. However, if my washer could not be repaired,
then I might be interested.

In another example, I received a sales letter email from an
information products expert, selling me on his teleclass.
In the first 7 sentences, he said I or me 11 times. If I
hadn't been interested in the topic, I would have deleted
the email before I finished those 7 sentences.

Your first tasks in marketing include making an emotional
connection with the prospect so you can begin to build a
relationship, and giving them information on solving their
problems and fulfilling their needs. By focusing on the
prospect, your target prospect will stay on your website
long enough to actually read what you worked so hard to
write!

An appropriate target market comes into play in a big way
here. If you are trying to appeal to everyone, your
message gets watered down so you can appeal to lots of
people. This is worse than talking about yourself! By
narrowing the aim of your message to a narrow segment of
the entire marketplace, you can then make that vital
emotional connection that keeps your prospect interested
enough to join your mailing list, make a purchase or tell
someone else about you.

If you have ever gone to a business networking meeting, you
have certainly heard people recite their laundry list
during their introductions. It goes something like this,
"Good morning; my name is Sue Smith and I have been a real
estate agent for 17 years. I help people buy and sell
homes in the blah blah area, so if you know anyone who is
looking to buy or sell a home, please tell them about me."

As soon as the next person begins their intro, you have
already completely forgotten what's-her-name. She has
talked about herself, has no target market and has not
addressed the problems or needs of anyone.

Get to know your target very well and you will understand
their problems and their needs and can then address them in
all your marketing. One of the most important places for
this information is on your website ' all pages of your
website! While the home page is of utmost importance in
keeping visitors interested in all you have to offer, you
need to remember that your entire website is there to
market your business ' not just the home page.

Even your 'about me' page should be marketing your
business. Remember, your prospects care about solving
their problems and meeting their needs; nobody cares about
you!

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Audrey Burton, Small Business Coach, is "The Tigress". Get
her FREE Special Report, "Closing the Sale is Not
Complicated!" with her FREE monthly email newsletter at
http://www.TigressCoaching.com .