Positioning yourself for more sales is easy. You may have purposefully done this already, and that’s fantastic. If not, I have eight marketing angles that will help you get your audience’s attention.
I’m always looking for an angle.
And you should too.
I’m not talking about doing anything dodgy, as we say in England – anything untoward, but rather the best way to promote what’s in front of me.
That could be what I see through my camera lens, or products or services I want to sell, or someone – like a talented individual in a networking environment.
Let’s look at photos first and the importance of angles.
One image that instantly comes to mind is from several years ago. It went viral, and I’d say it’s iconic. I love it because it imbues calm amongst chaos and its subject holds herself in power, but also seems to – like a super (s)he-ro – create impenetrable space around her.
It’s a shot that went around the world.
The shots taken before and after, by the same photographer – with differences of seconds – show the same people but loses the impact of their proximity and the situation.
And then there’s a photo by another photographer.
Same people, but it’s just another riot picture.
The angle and timing of Jonathan Bachman’s photo is perfect. Max Becherer’s shot not as much.
So how does this tie into sales?
Good question.
No matter what business you are in, you have competition – just like those two photographers that day. They weren’t the only ones out there documenting the Black Lives Matters riot in Baton Rouge, Louisiana – there were probably tens, if not hundreds, of photographers on the ground.
We know how important it is to get your message to stand out above all the noise on social media, to get your visitors and viewers to “stop the scroll.” How you position what you have and what you do is your angle.
Your hook.
So not only do we have good, better, and best angles visually, we have them in our marketing literature. It doesn’t matter if you are on social media, putting together a brochure, or writing for your website –
you gotta have an angle.
Here are some effective marketing angles that you’ve seen plenty of times but may not have thought about when it comes to writing your copy.
EASY
Let folks know that what you have is easy to use, easy to take part in, easy-to-understand, easy to put together… let people know it’s easy!
SOLUTION
State the problem/s of your viewer, and the solution/s – which you have.
TIME
We all want to save time because we are all so busy. At least that’s what we’re telling ourselves. But seriously, position your products/services in a way that highlights that it/they saves folks time. People will take notice.
MONEY
People love to spend money, but they also love to save money on the same things.
BENEFITS
Time and time again, people confuse the features of what they sell with the benefits. An alarm clock can have the features of “compact and loud,” but the benefit is – “you won’t be late for work!” because the alarm is loud. Asking, “So what?” of your features will lead you to the benefits. Flow from feature to benefit with “so you can/will…” Share your benefits, always.
VALUE
When it comes to purchases, no one wants to get short-changed. The more value you give – even over and above what someone might expect, elevates your offering. How much value do you provide for what you charge?
NO BARRIERS
Guarantees and return policies – highlight your no-barrier-to-purchase features and benefits. Give free trials that become paid options after a set amount of days.
THE GO-TO PERSON
What is it about your expertise that makes you the go-to person in your area, or your industry? What results do you deliver?
When you think about your marketing, it should be created in a way that makes the sale easy. If your marketing has the same look and feel as everybody else in your marketplace, you don’t stand out, and you can’t hook your audience.
You can apply these angles to lots of different types of marketing, but in closing, let’s look at doing it on a website. I’ve been designing and developing them for over 25 years in all kinds of Industries, and I see these issues time and time again – and I don’t want you to have them!
Take what you do and write about it in a way that is not only appealing but also somewhat intriguing. Make it heavily benefits-oriented and results-driven. And as much as possible, let people know how quick and easy your process is and the typical results clients achieve.
Find your angle and elevate your marketing.