Let me start with a story. In the old days selling products was simple.
You told people the features of the product and they bought it. For example look at the Colgate’s ad from 1910s - Colgate’s Shaving Stick.
The ad focuses on the features of the product: “it slides comfortably over your face, no waste - you get around 270 shaves from one stick, etc.”
A lot has changed since then! Today we live in a very competitive world. We are constantly bombarded with sales causing the consumers to turn off.
What is the solution for effective marketing in 2020? It’s the Value-Driven approach.
What is the Value-Driven approach?
Very simply, it is creating content that provides worth and value to your audience. It is information or advice that educates them. For example, introducing a new technique or product that will make their life better.
Value-Driven will mean different things to different brands - and that’s because every audience is different. And that’s a good thing.
Knowing your audience and having a Customer-Centric approach is one of the key building blocks for effective marketing in 2020.
At the same time, it is one of the biggest challenges that marketers are facing today.
Here are 3 questions that can help you start thinking about Value-Driven content for your brand:
- Is it stimulating? - does it make your audience want to know more.
- Does it educate? - will your audience learn something?
- Is it engaging? - are you creating a bond between you and your audience?
Let’s talk about your Home Page
As they say: you never get a second chance to make a first impression. That means your Home Page is actually one of the most important pages of your website.
No pressure.
An effective Home Page answers the following questions in the visitor’s mind:
- Who are you?
- What do you do?
- What can I - “the visitor” do here?
On average, a person spends up to 15 seconds (!) on a website. It’s because today people don’t read the web - they skim it.
If the visitor can not identify what it is that you do in up to 10 seconds, there is a high chance that they will leave.
Attention is becoming one of the most sought after metrics - we’ve very much entered into the mentality of the “attention web”. Click metrics are still relevant but mean nothing if they are not driving any business goals.
To gain more of your visitors attention, you need to clearly communicate your value proposition on your Home Page.
At a glance, your visitors need to be able to easily identify: who are you and what do you do.
What’s your story?
To create an effective Home Page, firstly, you need to figure out what story is your brand telling and start there.
The Home Page acts a bit like a sales pitch - it’s an introduction of a product or service to an audience who knows nothing about it (or very, very little).
Avoid the industry jargon and speak to your audience in “their language” - simple, clear and relatable.
A very fun and relevant example of introducing a “story” is the opening of the "Say Say Say" song by Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson.
“Let me tell you about the Mac & Jack wonder potion - guaranteed to give you unbelievable power. Yes my friends it can give you the strength of a raging bull.”
So let’s jump into the structure of a Value-Driven Home Page.
