Stock or Soda: It’s all About the Message

I’ve just spent an afternoon at the Hard Assets Investment Conference here in San Francisco, listening to a couple dozen mostly small and mid-cap mining and energy companies pitching their stories to the investment community, represented in this instance by a handful of hedge funds, some private equity folks and a bunch of individual investors taking that rare (and smart) step of looking CEOs in the eye and learning about the firms they invest in, rather than relying on some analyst’s report or a tip from their broker.

But while chatting with some of these smart investors over a couple drinks, something that we marketers already know became crystal clear: you need a message that resonates to stand out from the crowd. Whether that crowd is small-cap oil and gas companies competing for investors, the highly competitive banking sector, or sodas on a supermarket shelf, two things need to be clearly understood by those doing the selling. First, what is it that makes your product or service compelling? And how does this position you versus your competition? While not seasoned marketers, these investors intuitively understand when they’re not getting a message that turns their crank.

After listening to the first half-dozen of these earnest, experienced and highly intelligent CEOs say, “We focus on maximizing shareholder value…” I almost fell asleep. C’mon guys.

Just because your company doesn’t compete on a retail shelf, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t focus on your differentiators to light the fire of interest with your target audience. Figure out what gets me going, and by God get me excited. As consumers, we want to be educated. We need to be engaged. And we must understand why we should care.

Your company has a story to tell–  whatever it is you’re trying to sell – so do us all a favor, and figure out how to tell it.

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© 2009 Michael Hinshaw and MCorp Consulting. All rights reserved. This article was originally posted on Touchpoint Insights, the MCorp Consulting blog. Touchpoint Mapping®, Brand MappingSM and Loyalty Mapping®  are registered trademarks of MCorp Consulting.