So what’s a hole?  Remember that nobody buys a drill because they want a drill.  They buy a drill because they want holes.  The “hole” is the solution to your customer’s problem.  The “hole” is what you should be addressing in your marketing, not the drill.  The hole is what your customer is really looking for.

So is your marketing plan focused on the drill, or is it focused on the hole?  While it might be possible to get somebody who doesn’t need holes to buy a drill, your job of selling drills will be a whole lot easier if you first find people that need holes.

Would you like to increase your sales?  Take a step back from your business and figure out what problems your customers are trying to solve when they do business with you.  If there’s more than one problem, which is most important?  Which is most urgent?  How does this problem make them feel?  Which one is causing your customer the most pain?  What kind of pain is this problem causing?  What are your customers willing to do to make that pain go away?  When you understand these things, you’re well on your way to understanding your customer.

Now take a look again at your marketing plan and your advertisements.  How do you capture the attention of people with the same problem?  How well do you address the issues that are most important to them?  What kind of offer do you make to solve their problem?  Forget about trying to sell more drills.  Just find people that need holes, and help them out!

Just one word of warning – don’t get so caught up in the creative side of your advertising that you lose sight of your core message.  After all, if your ads don’t make an effective offer to the consumer, then you’re really paying for brand recognition, and most small businesses can’t afford an effective brand recognition advertising campaign.

For some examples to get your creative juices flowing, check out this video:

I want you to think back to the spring of 2006. Imagine yourself going back in time. Before the election, before the recession, before the bailouts. Now imagine, in 2006, that you need a new bank. How do you choose one? For some people, it’s the convenient location of the nearest branch. For others, it’s the friendly, personal service. Maybe for you the extra half percent they offer on their savings accounts, or the number of branches in town, or the interest rates on their loans, or their ability to approve your loans is more important. Whatever it is, you have a specific strategy you use, a set of criteria, to choose which bank you do business with.

In fact, you have a list of criteria, somewhere in your mind, ranked in order of importance to you. When you choose a bank, you might only pay attention to the number one most important item on that list, while others might use the top 3, 4, or 5 criteria.

As I listened to the radio back in 2006, I heard a lot of commercials for local banks around town. Most of them, as far as I can remember, had something to do with mortgages or home equity loans. For example, a home equity loan from our bank can put your kids through college, or get you that boat or vacation you’ve been wanting. In other words, a loan from Bank X can make your dreams come true.

How would you have reacted to a commercial for a bank that basically said “let us take care of your money, so you know it will be safe.” I you’re like most people, the criteria “A safe bank that is not at risk of going out of business soon” was way down on your list, like number 462. Back in 2006, everyone thought every bank was so safe that most people never even considered the possibility of a bank going under.

Even in early 2008, when the Federal Reserve stepped in to help prevent Bear Sterns from collapsing, the average American paid little attention. It wasn’t until October that everything changed, when the effects of the recession were front page news every day, and the President of the US announced a $700 Billion bailout package. That’s when every Joe and Jane in the US suddenly realized just how serious the recession was, and how real the risks facing American businesses were. That’s when every American consumer started re-prioritizing their list.

If you were choosing a bank at the end of 2008, your most important criteria was probably the stability of the bank itself, and therefore, the safety of your money. The extra half percent interest you looked for a few years ago was not important anymore. So what happens when Bank X continues to advertise that extra half percent interest?

In early 2009, I heard a new commercial on the radio for Suntrust Bank, unlike any banking commercial I had ever heard. The entire commercial was build around a single word – SOLID. Someone at Suntrust was obviously paying attention. They knew that their typical customer, now filled with fear about the economy, had re-prioritized their list. Potential customers were using a completely different criteria to choose a bank, which rendered Suntrust’s old commercials, as well as every other bank’s, completely irrelevant. “Suntrust – Live Solid. Bank Solid.” The implied message, always more powerful than a message stated outright, cuts right to the center of the consumer’s fear. Suntrust figured out what was relevant to consumers TODAY, updated their marketing message accordingly, and moved ahead with a very successful marketing campaign.

So how do you keep up with your customers’ purchasing criteria, and when do you change your marketing? Just ask your customers. Run surveys regularly. Pay attention to what they say, and more importantly, what they do. If a marketing message is performing well, and providing a nice return, don’t change it. If it lasts for 20 or 30 years, and keeps working, great! When it ceases to work as effectively as it should, find out why. Measure the criteria people are using in the current market, and update your message accordingly. If your message does not address at least one of the top three criteria people in your target market use to choose your product or service, then don’t waste your money advertising that message. Make every advertising dollar count.