I have a challenge for you.
Go to the websites of five companies in almost any industry and see how long it takes you to find some version of “exceptional service,” “innovative solutions,” “unmatched expertise,” “industry-leading quality,” or “a commitment to excellence.”
I’m guessing you won’t need to pack a lunch.
These phrases are everywhere because they sound professional, positive, and safe. They also tell your customer practically nothing.
After all, when was the last time you saw a company advertise mediocre service, outdated solutions, questionable expertise, and a casual commitment to doing an acceptable job when everyone feels like it?
Your competitors claim they provide exceptional service too, so now what?
David Ogilvy, one of the most influential advertising minds of the twentieth century, had a better answer: do your homework, learn everything you can about what you are selling, find the facts that matter, and give customers something specific enough to believe.
Specific Beats Impressive
Suppose two restaurants are trying to convince you that their steaks are excellent.
The first tells you, “We serve premium steaks prepared with an uncompromising commitment to quality.”
The second tells you, “Every steak is hand-cut in our kitchen, aged for 28 days, and cooked over an oak-fired grill.”
Which one gives you more reason to believe the steak might actually be good?
The first restaurant gave you adjectives, while the second gave you information.
That difference matters because anybody can claim quality. Specific details begin to explain where the quality comes from.
Ogilvy understood the selling power of information. He researched products, found interesting facts, and turned those facts into reasons for customers to pay attention.
The lesson is not that every advertisement needs to become an encyclopedia. It is that vague praise is cheap, while specificity gives a claim weight.
Your Customer Has Heard It All Before
You may spend three weeks carefully crafting the phrase “unparalleled customer experience,” but your prospect has probably encountered some version of that promise fifteen times before lunch.
The problem is not that quality, experience, innovation, service, and trust are unimportant. They may be among the biggest reasons customers choose your company.
Simply naming the virtue does not prove you possess it.
If exceptional service really separates your company, show me what that means. Perhaps calls are returned within 30 minutes, every new client receives a written 30-day implementation plan, or 87 percent of your customers have stayed with you for more than five years.
Those are things I can understand.
“Exceptional service” asks me to take your word for it, while specific details allow me to reach that conclusion myself.
Research Gives You Something Worth Saying
Ogilvy was famous for doing his homework because research uncovers the details generic marketing misses.
Businesses frequently begin with the question, “What should we say?”
I would rather start with, “What is true?”
What does your company actually do differently? Why was the product designed this way? What happens behind the scenes that customers never see? What does your guarantee really cover? What have customers accomplished, and why do your best customers stay?
The answers often contain better marketing than anything we could invent during a brainstorming session.
I have seen companies struggle to create a clever slogan while sitting on a genuinely fascinating story they never thought to mention because everyone inside the company already knew it.
The things that seem ordinary to you may be extraordinary to your customer.
Numbers Make Claims Real
Specificity becomes particularly powerful when numbers are involved.
A roofing company could say, “We have extensive experience,” or it could truthfully say, “Our team has inspected more than 4,000 roofs across North Texas.”
A manufacturer could claim “fast delivery,” or say that 96 percent of orders ship within one business day.
The second version in each example is stronger because specific numbers make claims testable. The business has stopped asking the customer to accept a vague promise and started offering evidence.
Of course, the numbers need to be true. Making your marketing more specific is not permission to become more creative with arithmetic.
Your Best Marketing Material May Already Exist
One of the best things a business owner can do is stop looking for impressive things to say and start looking for interesting things that are true.
Listen to sales calls, read customer reviews, and talk to the people who interact with customers every day. Find out why customers chose you, why they stayed, what surprised them, and what almost stopped them from buying.
There are often powerful selling points buried inside your processes, policies, history, expertise, guarantees, technology, and customer experiences.
Those details are difficult for competitors to copy because they actually belong to you.
Anyone can type “committed to excellence” onto a website. Your story requires considerably more effort.
Stop Telling Me You’re Different
There is a simple test you can apply to almost any piece of marketing.
Read one of your claims and ask whether your three biggest competitors could say exactly the same thing.
If they can, keep digging.
If everyone claims decades of experience, explain what those decades taught you. If everyone offers innovative solutions, show me one. If everyone promises personalized service, tell me what yours actually looks like.
David Ogilvy understood that you do not have to shout louder when you have something meaningful to say.
If your marketing sounds professional but suspiciously similar to everyone else in your industry, visit www.meetparthiv.com to schedule a complimentary Strategic Growth Session. We’ll uncover the stories, facts, and specifics that give customers a real reason to choose you.
Telling people you are different is easy, but giving them a reason to believe it is where the marketing begins.
To your unstoppable success,
President
eLaunchers.Com