By Jeffrey Hedquist
My wife is an amazing alternative healthcare practitioner, with clients throughout the world. She has studied and been certified in dozens of modalities that help keep people healthy, balanced, out of pain and in some cases alive.
Her mission is to treat someone, and then give them the information, techniques and tools to take care of themselves, so they’ll do the regular preventative maintenance to stay strong and healthy and they won’t have to seek treatment from practitioners like her to continually hold them together. It doesn’t happen. She has what they need and tries to get them to use it, but…
What most of them want is to be released from pain, to be “fixed” quickly, without having to take responsibility for their own well-being. This is not to say that their desire is right or wrong, but that’s what they want. She can almost always do that for them, but it makes her crazy, because she knows they could be more self-sufficient.
She is like many of your clients. Their businesses, shops, web sites and practices offer products and services that they know customers need. And they give these offers to you to advertise on the radio. And you do. And no one responds. And they blame the medium. The problem lies with the offer.
We’re in the want fulfillment business. So the more we know about those wants, the easier it will be to create commercials to lead people to our advertisers.
Find out what people want, not what they need. Occasionally the wants and needs will be the same, but most often not. Research what people actually purchase from your client. Talk to customers to find out why they bought. Think about the “wants” your client satisfies. Use those wants to make a powerful offer.
With each of your clients, drill down (peel the onion) until you arrive at the basic want(s) that they fulfill. Now your task is easier.
What are they? Here are a few to chew on. There are others. In most cases, your advertiser will fall under one or more of these categories: To be safe; To be comfortable; To be loved; To be attractive; To feel self-actualized; To fit in, to belong; To be surprised, intrigued, interested.
If your client satisfies more than one, do more than one commercial. Keep it simple. One per spot.
Sometimes, those customers who’ve come to your client to have an annoying itch scratched can be led to a lifestyle change that will prevent the itch from recurring. Sometimes.
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