By Stacey Weber
We could have unlimited budget, run every marketing campaign our hearts desire, and still end up missing the market on revenue goals. Without the right message, all of our efforts fall short of their potential.
How do we get the message right? How do we find the right things to focus on? What guides our decisions about language and graphics?
In the most successful marketing campaigns, the authors understand their audience better than anyone else. This deep understanding of their target audience, whether it’s buyers, users, or buyers who also use the product, illuminates their marketing campaigns and catches the targets’ attention quickly. Sometimes, the audience even extends the message in a viral (aka free) campaign of their own. Having the right message makes your marketing efforts seem, well, effortless!
Many of you are doing product management and/or product marketing without big budgets or huge teams. How do you get your message right in a timely fashion, without breaking the bank?
Over the past 25 years, I’ve helped thousands of companies learn how to understand their market and craft a message that resonates with their audience. I believe that you can measurably impact campaign performance by practicing one habit.
The fastest path to improving your message and marketing is to understand the people who recently purchased, or attempted to purchase, your product. This is called win/loss analysis, and there are a myriad of ways to approach it. Here are my personal tips.
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Find the right people!
You want to talk to anyone who was involved in a recent purchase attempt, whether your company won or lost the deal. Be opportunistic. If you can find the primary buyer, the one who had budget – that’s great. If you only get access to someone who was involved, an influencer? Take the opportunity. Talk to people you can find and get access to. Sales is your friend here! Go to them, and explain that you’re doing research that will help you build better sales tools and execute more effectively on marketing campaigns. If they’re nervous, reassure them that you are looking solely for ways to improve the impact of your sales support and marketing campaigns.
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Keep it casual.
If you try to schedule a formal meeting, or if you attempt to get face-to-face time, your win/loss analysis could get seriously stalled. Instead, opt for the path of least resistance. Give your contacts a call, explain your purpose, and ask if they have a few minutes to talk about their experience with your company. If they’ve got time, proceed to my third tip! If they don’t have time immediately, ask them if they have time in the next few weeks – and follow their lead on how to do that. If they prefer phone over video, then schedule a phone call! If they’re down the road and want to have lunch, that works too.
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Do NOT, under any circumstances, craft a list of canned questions.
Your purpose in this conversation is to find out how they found out about your company, and how they made their purchase decision. Whether they bought your product, the competitor’s product, or decided not to buy at all, your sole focus should be to understand the story behind that ultimate decision. Ask them to tell you about their experience with your company – and then, spend all of your energy listening intently to their story and the feelings behind their words. When do they get excited? Did they experience points of frustration? Instead of relying on a long list of prepared questions, focus on listening to them. Be curious and supportive – instead of jumping in with your own questions, try saying, “Let me see if I got this right.” Reiterate the story they’ve told you so far, and ask, “did I get it? Did I miss anything?” Listen intently, take copious notes, and focus on learning real stories of how people make purchase decisions.
