Until you are the best choice for your ideal customer, you do not deserve to exist in the marketplace.
That was just one of the interesting suppositions the students of Dr. Flint McGlaughlin heard this morning during the first day of the MarketingExperiments LPO workshop in Ponte Vedra Beach.
The context was the importance of value proposition.
“88% of all landing pages I see have a problem with the value proposition,” said Flint. “What you must answer for your customer is this: ‘If I am your ideal customer, why should I buy from you instead of from any of your competitors?’ … You must figure out why you are best and learn to communicate it effectively.”
The students I spoke with at the lunch break were certainly eager to get started on that effective communication, expressing a range of goals for attending the intensive training. Some hoped to take back “evidence” to a boss to show why a company’s landing pages should be changed, others were expanding their portfolio of professional certifications.
At least two students were shipped here by a marketing-savvy CEO.
Kacy McRae, a marketing communications specialist and graphic designer for Illinois-based B2B Pacific Bearing, and Dominick Doyle, the company webmaster, were sent to the conference by CEO Robert Schroeder, a long-time member of MarketingSherpa. McRae and Doyle confirmed their number one goal is to better manage Schroeder’s marketing dollars.
They certainly got his money’s worth for him today.
From how to design a channel map, through that great overview of the importance of identifying and expressing a value proposition, to the importance of reducing friction (but not completely), balancing it with incentive, and alleviating anxiety, Flint guided students through the “sequence of thought” required to achieve optimal conversion results for their companies, backing it all up with solid test results ranging from the 1,052% cumulative gain we achieved with the New York Times, to impressive lifts for lead generation, retail, and B2B sites.
I’m sure that most students who attended today will agree: The training they got was not only fast-paced, detailed, and useful, it was definitely thought-provoking. Here are a few of my other favorite “Flintisms” from today’s sessions:
• Optimization happens in the mind, not on the page.
• Adequacy is the enemy of excellence.
• Service is a threshold expectation.
• Clarity trumps persuasion.
Day two will encompass a review, then a comprehensive test. Those who manage to be at least 80% correct will come out on the other side with their certificate.
Good luck, you guys.
Sounds like a great class to be a part of, would love to set up something with you to come out to the Ann Arbor Michigan area.
Very interesting subject!