It’s hard to differentiate your product when your customers INSIST that they’re all the same.
Are you serving a solution to customers who believe that MAYBE there’s a problem? Do they understand that MAYBE there are dangers to status quo?
What can you do to prime the market?
Great content is predicated on context.
Once a fox served a crane soup in a shallow dish. Though it looked delicious, the crane couldn’t drink it because of his long beak. Annoyed, he thought to get back at the fox by inviting him for dinner which he served in a tall jar with a very narrow neck.
HOW it’s served matters.
The content may be good, but totally useless if the audience has a limitation which inhibits them from its uptake.
Serve the crane’s food in a tall jar and the fox’s food in a shallow dish.
Pay attention to their needs. Any worthwhile conversation starts with listening.
Bad design is an easy cop-out for your customers to drop your work and move on.
If it’s illegible, fix it. You’ll thank yourself for it!
The below picture was actually published in a reputable journal.
Market access is dense and difficult to understand.
Storytelling is an efficient vehicle that transports messages to your audience in one piece.
Clear and simple stories pack the greatest punch.
When the audience is seeking a punchline, don’t lead with an ambiguous title and then bury the punchline somewhere underneath.
Good decks and brochures in market access have thoughtfully crafted messages in their headlines. Your audience should be able to figure out your story even if all they have time for is reading the headlines.
If your audience isn’t up for a scavenger hunt, don’t create one.
Teaching someone the complexities of market access is…well…complex. The numerous intricacies need to be explained in a way that doesn’t bore the audience to sleep.
Telling a story is more engaging than spitting out facts without proper context.
Persona profiles are a great way to teach your audience about your customers. Answer these questions to create the persona profiles:
A rocket launch provides the initial thrust to overcome the force of gravity.
A locomotive engine that pulls the entire train with it starts out very slow.
They can catch speed with each passing second, but the initial thrust is the most difficult and determines whether or not they will take off.
The first draft always takes the longest because it involves the most thinking and collaboration.
Then, each subsequent draft becomes easier and faster.
But someone needs to put the care into the first draft so that it’s given the chance to take off.
What’s top of mind for the customer?
You should be able to address it and then move out of the way. No fluff.
Does your deck, dossier, or brochure include this information? Is it organized in a way so that you can INSTANTLY navigate to the relevant slides or sections? If the answer is ‘no’ to either of these questions, there’s a problem.
Thoughtfully engineered pieces turn heads. Over-engineered pieces…well….
A value proposition is not a lecture. Nor is it a book. It’s meant to be short.
Omission of facts is inevitable when something is short.
What facts are you willing to omit vs. which facts do you HAVE to include?
What are the 5 key things that once customers understand/SEE them, they can start doing the rest of work to find out the details?
When building a strategy from the ground-up, what are the questions you should be asking yourself?
Wouldn’t it be nice if someone whispered those questions into your ear?
Hope these questions are just as helpful to you as they are to me.
