The Art of Convincing: 3 Ways to Make Your Brand Stand Out
It’s one thing to sell, but it’s another to convince. Say you’ve developed a revolutionary product or your business is offering a service that supersedes all previous expectations. You want to put your product or service out in the market – how do you achieve this?
Many businesses struggle with delivering a persuasive and compelling pitch, but in an increasingly saturated business landscape, delivering an effective pitch is the only way to allow your brand to differentiate itself from the competition.
Intrigued? Here are three tips that will not only help you persuade, but persuade effectively:
1. Create that Rainbow Connection
Never underestimate the impact of a first impression, especially when you’re reaching out to a new audience for the first time. With only a few seconds to make a lasting impression, you have to make each second count. Think about it this way: why should your audience listen to you and how do you ensure that you will be worth their time? Without your audience’s attention from the start, your pitch is not likely to succeed no matter how great your product or service actually is.
The idea is to say more with less and pique the crowd’s interest. Keep your opening short and attention-grabbing. Start off by engaging your audience with a clear and concise introduction, such as with a thought-provoking question. Make them feel involved and as if they are part of an ongoing conversation.
Alternatively, you could also open with a truth they would be hard-pressed to disagree with. As the saying goes, birds of a feather flock together. If they resonate with your opening statement, chances are they will be willing to listen on – even if you decide to challenge the status quo later on your message.
2. Understand Your Competition
A tip to boost your credibility before prospective clients is to study your competition. Doing research on your peers allows you to analyse what they have done and identify how your business has an edge over them. Always think about what problem your product or service can help to solve and whether there’s a market gap that you can help fill. By identifying this gap and providing a solution, you can effectively demonstrate cognizance of the value of your company’s product or service brings to the table.
Do be careful not to be too aggressive in your marketing or sales tactics – it is bad practice to target your competitors head-on. Instead, focus on the existing gaps in your industry that your business can help fill. This will go a long way to show that you are aware of the current business landscape, various players in the market, and where you fit into the puzzle.
3. Cultivate Genuine Conversations
Selling your brand effectively is a two-way dialogue, requiring inputs from both sides. Gone are the days where consumers are content to remain passive listeners. Do your research – studies show that 25% of salespeople end up selling the wrong product to their audience.
It is vital for companies to curate convincing content to suit the needs of their consumers, recognising that purchases are generally emotionally-driven. Individuals make a purchase to either derive pleasure from the outcome or to solve an existing problem on their hands. Knowing your audience will enable your brand to be more effective in targeting these motivations. 69% of buyers still want sales representatives to better listen to their needs – this shows that a great pitch often revolves around the customer.
Always keep the end goal in mind: you want to inculcate a desire in potential customers to actively invest in your products or services. Take the opportunity to engage your audience in conversation by asking for feedback, so as to better identify where your products or services can value-add their current circumstances. Then show them how your business can help. Do not simply sell the product or service, sell the emotions associated with them. Building genuine conversations will make your audience more inclined to listen and eventually turn this conversation into a transaction.
Take another swing at boosting your brand with these recommendations and you might just see substantial results. For more business insights, follow Canon Singapore on LinkedIn.