Step 2: Define the message

Let me tell you a quick story

In the mid eighties, we had the chance to work with the Adult and Community Education Department of the St. Clair Shores, Michigan, schools. Among the programs they had was one called Enterprise, which was a federally funded high school equivalency program. In order to continue getting the Fed's money, they had to increase their enrollment by some 20%. They had tried a couple of things unsuccessfully, including having celebrities cut spots admonishing drop-outs to get back in school. (Yeah, right. Scold them for leaving when scolding was probably one of the things that drove them out in the first place.) So, we said, look, first of all, there's going to be a contingent of kids for whom life in the street with no education and no discernible skills is just fine with them. You'll never reach them, no matter what you do, so forget about them (sad, but true). But, we said, the kid you're going to reach is the one who's thinking, you know, maybe dropping out wasn't such a good idea, after all. That kid you'll get. All you have to do is run a message in his language said from his point of view and let him think it was his idea. Which is what we did. We wrote a rock anthem with lyrics written from the kid's point of view and all we said was, "If you're having second thoughts about dropping out of school, there's a way back in," and gave them the phone number. We ran for two weeks, afternoons and evenings, on what was Detroit's hardest rocking station at the time.

Click the play button to hear the spot on this audio player...

By the time we were done, the program saw a 43% increase in enrollment.

Your customer has a problem

The trick is to articulate the problem. Sometimes, the problem is fairly straightforward: "How do I attach this fitting to this board?" Sometimes, not so much: "I hate my boss, I need a new job." But be careful, because the problem may not be as straightforward as it would appear. "How do I attach this fitting to this board" may hide other problems, including perhaps, How do I do it quickly? How do I do it with the least amount of effort? How do I do it cheaply? So if you go straight to "here's how you do this," you may introduce another problem that you didn't know about or didn't intend to, and the solution you ultimately offer may not fit exactly. With that in mind, articulate your customer's problem(s) in the way your customer articulates it. What questions does she ask? What questions does she not ask?

WHEN YOU UNDERTAKE ANY advertising or marketing campaign, you must truly understand what is you're selling -- because that's what your marketing message needs to be: that you and only you have the right solution to your prospect's problem (remember, any unmet need is a problem), or perhaps more accurately, suite of problems. For example, with the St. Clair Shores Schools' experience, the problem for our target "customer" was that he needed to A) correct a mistake made by dropping out of school, B) attempt to do something that would create a life better than the one he found on streets, and C) be able to act like the whole thing was his idea. The solution was the Enterprise Program. The program was the "product," but what the kids "bought" was an opportunity to correct a mistake, make a better life and feel in control. See the difference?

Once you've figured out your prospect's problem(s), you've got to create an innovative solution. This (or these) innovation(s) should form the core message for your marketing; indeed your entire company. Anything that doesn't materially advance or support your company's cause is to be ignored. Leave out any and all cereal filler. Forget about anything that's irrelevant or immaterial or not germane to your company's reason for being, or perhaps more accurately, the prospect's buying motivation, i.e., her problem and how you solve it.

When people decide they're in the market for something, they're thinking about a need that has to be filled or a problem to be solved, and how and through whom they'll get it filled or solved. Nobody ever decided to shop for a car and thought, "Hm. It's time for a new car. I need to find a dealer who has an inflatable dinosaur on the front lawn and by the way, no dice if I don't get a Hibachi grill out of the deal." Or as Roy Williams puts it in his book, "Yes, I'm here because of the gorilla on your roof and the hot dogs I heard you advertise on the radio. And now that I see you're an automobile dealer, I have a sudden urge to buy a car." In determining your message, you must begin in the prospect's mind: Understand her buying motivation, then create a promise that addresses that motivation. The old business adage is "find a need and fill it." That's why you (your company) must continually innovate. And, by the way, isn't that what lead to the creation of your company? Why would you stray from that in the way you market your firm?