Software developers struggle to keep “feature creep” under control. Feature creep often stems from trying to anticipate the needs of some abstract “user” as in “the user would find this button useful”. Feature creep brings all sorts of problems to a project, not the least of which is a end product that doesn’t resemble the original intentions of the project.
I have been noticing a parallel theme in small business marketing, specifically, in the creation of marketing letters. It is common practice to create a draft of a letter and then pass it around for feedback. People want to be helpful, so they try to anticipate questions people will have when they read your letter. The problem with this approach is that without a clear understanding of the audience and the intent of the letter, many of these suggestions distract from the message rather than clarifying it.
When your message contains something for everyone, it becomes special to no one.
I am not suggesting that you don’t solicit feedback. Rather you should establish criteria ahead of time that you can use to evaluate feedback you receive. You will receive more valuable feedback if you share this criteria as part of your request for feedback.
If order to effectively filter the feedback you receive, you need to have clearly defined three key points:
- Who is your ideal prospect?
- What problem do you solve for them and how do you solve it differently than everyone else?
- What action do you want the reader of your letter to take?
The more specific you can be about the first two points, the more successful your letter will be. Since point number three tends to get muddied the most during the feedback process, I want to address that one.
Your letter should have a single, clearly communicated purpose. More often than not, particularly if you sell a service, you should not be trying to make the sale in your letter. Rather, your call to action should be for your reader to request additional information about who you work with and what you do so they can come to Know, Like, and Trust you.
Once you have clearly defined the three points above (Hint: write them down), use them as a filter to decide if you should implement suggested feedback. Does it matter if only your ideal prospects knows what a Super Cooled Flux-Capacitor is ? Do you need a full description of your legal obligations in this letter? Is it important to discuss how all of your products interrelate now? Have you made it as easy as possible to request additional information?
Use these three criteria to create successful marketing letters that gets a response from your ideal prospects.
