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ONE PERSON, ONE MESSAGE, ONE PROMISE It’s no longer enough to know why potential clients should choose you. Be super-specific about who you want to attract – and then tailor separate advertising campaigns to match their precise motivations. BY PAUL WATKINS
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ho do you want more of as clients? Are they first-home buyers? Older couples refixing? Now drill down. What do you mean by first-home buyers? Perhaps it’s a married couple in their late twenties or a couple in their early thirties with two kids. Maybe it’s a second marriage where one partner has owned a house before. It could be a recent immigrant couple or Kiwis returning home from an extended time overseas. Do they want to buy in Albany, Upper Hutt or Te Kuiti? With advertising for all products and services ramping up like it’s on steroids, how on earth do you get any cut-through? You can’t open your phone without a barrage of advertising messages hitting you in the face. Social media is full of ads; electronic billboards are coming back into fashion; and traditional media such as radio and press are fighting to take back some of their lost ground.
A major department store offers half price on super-king-size beds. That’s a seriously good deal! However, you already have a great bed, or a super king would never fit in your bedroom.
‘Rather than sending out a single generic newsletter, which has dubious impact, divide your client database into various segments so the message can be more targeted’
How to get cut-through When putting a promotion together, use the concept of “ONE person, ONE message, ONE promise.” Let me explain - first in a general sense and then as it relates to you as an adviser. 030
TMM 05 | 2023
So, while you may have spotted and read the ad, the offer is irrelevant to you. Now imagine that you are consciously looking for a larger bed, perhaps due to the need for more space
as one of you is a restless sleeper. You spot an advert for super king beds at 20% off (assume both offers came with the same interest-free terms.) Clearly not as good an offer as the first one, but it is worked to say, “Do you or your partner need more space in bed due to being a restless sleeper?” This motivation to buy a larger bed matches your situation and motivation for needing one, so you buy it. It is no different for mortgages. In a previous article, I covered the “W4 Marketing Planning Tool”. The concept I am now discussing refines that even further. The first ‘W’ in that plan was to understand exactly WHO you are aiming your advert at, and then WHY they would choose you. This would apply to all promotions, be they social media ads, blog posts, podcasts, YouTube videos or whatever platform you have chosen. Be very, very specific. We are all unique and like to see ourselves that way. We do not want to be seen as just another sheep in the paddock, but as having specific needs and desires. The trend in advertising right now is to make it personalised to the individual, which fits how we think of ourselves. Now let’s apply the concept to