Is your marketing saying the right things about your business?

My business, Glued, has recently joined a fortnightly networking group in Coventry called Uno Coventry (it’s great you should check it out), but that’s not the point of this article. Normally I rock up to networking events as a typical creative – informal. A red Glued t-shirt and smart pair of jeans. I feel authentic in that get-up as firstly, I don’t particularly feel myself in a suit as it’s a bit ‘business like’ to me and secondly, I spent so much money having my arms and neck tattooed black that I want to make the most of them – it’s part of my personal brand. However, a couple of weeks ago I decided to put on a nice three-piece suit, crisp white shirt and a pair of Barkers shoes. I felt good. When I walked in everyone complimented me on my get-up and Gus (the M-guru) who always wears something orange called me ‘Dapper Dave’ – I rather enjoyed the compliment (well I think it was a compliment anyway!?).

Over brunch my more formal ‘business look’ seemed to be a hot topic of conversation and it got me thinking. Most of the group know me well, but I’m sure I picked up a slightly different vibe… was I being taken more seriously… or did I feel dressed more appropriately for the situation? Either way it didn’t really matter, it made me think about how organisations can be perceived.

We all know that as humans we’re great at subconsciously judging things, take my bold tattoos and ear tunnels; they are certainly a look that understandably trigger a few preconceptions. I’m very happy with that: I stand out and look a bit ‘creative’. I’m also very happy to mix things up… certainly if I get some flattering comments along the way!

But back to the perception point: as a business we spend a lot of time with marketing teams and business owners either trying to create a brand that’s authentic to the business it portrays or talking to our clients’ customers and prospects to find out what they truly value about working with an organisation. Given my experience of either being ‘tattoo Dave’ or ‘Dapper Dave’ you can start to see how perceptions are so key. If you were to make the comparison to your own marketing, messaging and brand, is it helping or hindering your business communicate? If done right something that is authentic will attract the right sort of customer to your business. Dress your business up in the wrong marketing ‘clothes’ and you might not attract who you’re hoping for?

How do you go about working out what will attract your ideal customers?

Many creatives will tell you it’s all about trends: keeping up with the latest thing, or that it should all be about stand-out. Well, yes that’s all well and good, given my own personal brand I can hardly say that I don’t endorse stand-out! But maybe we can be a bit more rational about it? How about asking your customers why they buy from you? If you know what they truly value about your offer you’ll be able to use that as an authentic theme for your marketing campaigns, propositions, and brand.

As business owners we all believe we know why our customers buy from us, but do we? We find when we undertake research for our clients that themes emerge that often reveal information that can be used to seed more effective marketing propositions. Themes that our clients hadn’t fully harnessed. Because we’ve discovered those valuable things that customers buy-into, those themes can be used to attract more potential customers that share the same values.

One of the big challenges with finding out what your customers really think is that they might not give you a true account direct to your face. Running a customer survey is absolutely the right thing to do as a starter, but getting some independent research done where your customers can be frank and open will supercharge your understanding, and most likely reveal some powerful insights that you can harness in your marketing activities.

Take a moment to reflect on what your marketing is actually saying about your business: are your prospects and customers making judgments about your offer?