"Good marketing makes the company look smart. Great marketing makes the customer feel smart." Joe Chernov
Have you ever tried to hold three bowling balls at once? Chances are, if you did, you didn’t hold them for long.
As Donald Miller of StoryBrand says, marketing messages are a lot like bowling balls. You give people too much information and you lose them.
I’ve seen this so many times with small business websites. Too often businesses try to pack too much information on one page.
And that’s not only a problem, but it’s also costing small businesses money. If you have more than one marketing message on your website home page, or on a YouTube video, or anywhere for that matter, your prospects get confused.
And when that happens, people click away. You just left money on the table.
A marketing message should contain one topic. More than one topic and people won’t retain the information.
The Marketing Message That Confused Everyone
Here's a great example of having too many bowling bowls on your home page.
Source: StoryBrand
Is your head hurting yet? Mine is!
Do we really know what this company does? They tried to get their customers to juggle four bowling balls of information. By trying to sell everything on one page, this company sells nothing. They've lost us.
Here's what the revamped homepage header looks like:
Source: StoryBrand
The new header has an engaging picture and tells us what Equify does and the five ways it makes a small business company stronger.
We know:
Who they are--Equify financial services
How they make a small business owner's life better--five areas of their business that help small business owners manage cash flow and protect them from risk.
How to do business with them--Call them.
Doesn't that just feel and look better while communicating great value?
What If You Have More Than One Marketing Message?
If you have more than one area to your business, devote a page to each of those areas. On the home page, provide links to those pages.
This strategy kills two birds with one stone. You keep your overarching message clear without confusing people. And, it encourages people to stay on your page longer.
The longer people stay on your website, Google will see the site as beneficial, adding value to the visitor. As a result, your site will move up in rankings.
One simple, clear message reaps big small business benefits!
Do you know a small business or creative who is struggling to level up their marketing message? Trying to figure out which marketing tools are most effective for them? I can help and would love to connect up.