The Power of Customer-Centric Messaging

The Power of Customer-Centric Messaging
by Mary Sullivan

A newspaper ad by a college shows a half of a tasseled graduation cap with the headline, "FINISH WHAT YOU STARTED…" To someone who isn't getting where he wants to be in his career because he never got that degree, this ad for an evening degree-completion program by a local college is an attention-getter.

Or take a B2B example: A data storage software company ad pictures a man in a suit, caught in a mousetrap. Below is a large caption, "BEWARE OF HARDWARE TRAPS". The image is arresting to anyone, but to a CIO, it's a reminder about a current problem: Storage software can be a painful if it doesn’t work with all the hardware they acquired when they acquired several companies.

In each of these ads, there is minimal copy at the bottom about the product or service. But in each, the message is clear. It is not about the product or service. It's all about a problem, want or need of the target customer.

You don't need to use advertising to tap into resolution messages like these. Implement customer-centric messages:

On your website
In your collateral
For your direct marketing campaign
In your sales presentations