Larry Chase Web Digest for Marketers (www.wdfm.com) is an excellent resource for marketers. Chase's weekly newsletter is always packed with marketing tips and resources that you can use to promote your Yahoo! store. Chase has compiled a list of branding tips that you should review when creating your brand, to make your positioning message stand out among your competition. First, look at your taglinethose few words or one phrase that quickly tells a visitor to your Yahoo! store about your USP. Does it really differentiate your business from the competition? Remember, you don't have very many seconds (1.54) to grab a visitor's attention, so your tagline must be short and effective. "Our prices can't be beat" and "We are the lowest price" don't sell the shopper. Customers need to know why you are the lowest and why it's important to them. Michelin's tagline is an example of one that focuses on the customer's need: "Because so much is riding on your tires." This tagline personalizes the USP and answers the question in the consumer's mind, "Why should I care? What's in it for me?" Your objective is to create a solid, exact, and usable USP that both positions you in the marketplace and convinces a consumer to buy from you.
Second, don't be perceived as a "me, too." Marvin Honig, well-known creative director who was responsible for the classic ads for Volkswagen, warns against losing your business in the Sea of Sameness. As an example, he once took the soundtrack from one noted soft drink ad and placed it over the visuals of a second noted soft drink ad. They synched up perfectly! His focus groups proved that people could not tell the difference between one soft drink ad of that time and another. Third, show customersdon't tell them. Talk is cheap, so show your shoppers how you will anticipate their needs and meet their expectations. Again, this is the idea of underpromising and overdelivering. Fourth, find a personality for your site, otherwise known as your voice. Don't make your product or service (even your company polices) sound like boring spec sheet. Talk to your shoppers. Get in their shoes. If you can do that, you go long way toward answering their question of WIIFM: "What's in it for me?" Fifth, ask for criticism. Show your worse critic your Yahoo! store. In fact, show it to as many critics as you can. Tell them to be fair but brutal. Take their criticism to heart, and make the appropriate changes. Finally, you can't please everybody. That's why you have chosen a target audience. Market to those consumers, position your business, and build a brand for those you want to sell to. |