The 3Vs of Marketing: Visibility, Value, and Virtue

The 3Vs of Marketing: Visibility, Value, and Virtue

Glancing at a local hardware store ad, you see a shovel and are reminded you need one. At the hardware store, you find two shovels with the quality you are looking for, the same warranty, and the same price. One was the shovel in the ad, the other has a brand name you recognize from their many other products. You pick the latter because you bought the brand before and had a positive experience.

In the 1960’s, prevailing marketing wisdom directed us to the 4Ps: Product, Price, Placement, and Promotion. Was the shovel a Product you wanted, at a Price you wanted to pay, in a Place where you wanted to buy it, and Promoted so that you knew about its unique features? Both shovel manufacturers covered the 4Ps.

In the ’90s, customer-centricity was born, and with it came a new model for marketing, the 4Cs: Consumer, Cost, Convenience, and Communication. Was the shovel something you needed, and at the right Cost? Was it Convenient to buy, and was its value Communicated? Both shovel manufacturers covered the 4Cs.

Your brand experience made the difference. You made a purchase based on Visibility, Value, and Virtue. The brand you had less experience with could increase Visibility with a social networking feedback campaign. They might improve Value and Virtue with a longer extended warranty and customer testimonials.

Using the test of Visibility, Value, and Virtue accomplishes the customer-centric change of the 4Cs, but is more direct and speaks to the more holistic brand emotion in addition to specific product wants and needs. You want a shovel, but you buy THIS shovel because the brand is more visible to you. The good experiences you had with the brand added value, and your resulting perception of brand virtue made you feel more trusting.

The 4Ps or 4Cs of marketing can tell us what we want, whether we can afford it, the features that should make us want it over another, and where and how we can get it, but the 3Vs of marketing help us to look more directly at our market’s brand perception and address what really drives a purchase, emotion.

How do the 3Vs make you feel about the choices you have to make to achieve the right marketing mix?

Are your brand, products, and services visible to the market they serve?

Are your brand, products, and services valuable to the market they serve?

Are your brand, products, and services perceived as virtuous by the market they serve?

5Vs that make the 1440 model for complete business and product planning.

Do you mind your 5Ws?

Do you mind your 5Ws?

Have you ever heard the phrase ‘Mind your Ps and Qs’? Growing up, I knew it to mean ‘behave’ (hearing it said to other children, of course). Behave seems like GREAT advice for communication. Everyone is communicating their interests, everywhere you look.

Have you unfriended the acquaintance who posts thirty of his most extreme political views a day on Facebook? Stopped following the business connection who uploads pictures of her breakfast…and lunch…and dinner on Twitter? Or, ick, disconnected from the person who propositioned you on LinkedIn? How about when the article you want to read in your spare five minutes at the airport Just. Finally. Loaded. when a too-big-for-the-screen ad pops up, giving you no way to close it. Argghhh!

So why the disconnect between what we want to see and hear, and what we are often experiencing? Communication etiquette. We can behave better in our communication by always asking Who, What, When, Where, and Why. Think of it as minding our Ws to help us all have messaging experiences that better serve us.

Are you minding your Ws?

The 5Ws for Communication Etiquette

  • Why? Why are you doing what you do, and why should anyone care? Seek first to understand. Understanding your why, and, more importantly, your audience’s why, should be first in the 5Ws. Examine core beliefs, pains, desires, and motivators. In which of them do you share common interests with those you hope to serve? Yes, we all eat. But unless you are a recipe guru and your audience is anxiously awaiting your next dish, you may want to rethink tweeting pictures of every great meal.
  • Who? Who has well-aligned Whys AND is likely to want to give something to receive what you are offering? While you might be up to the task of selling it, Eskimos probably aren’t the right market for ice.
  • What? What does your audience want? Your value is not in what you do, it is in what (they perceive) you do for them. Always play your messages on station WIIFM! Think of your best customer, and imagine them asking ‘blah, blah, blah…so what’s in it for me?”
  • When? Timing counts. Your mouth-watering new dinner entrée special on your Facebook page at 4 PM is very well timed. A direct mail postcard for funeral pre-planning during the holiday season is less so.
  • Where? Where is your market most likely to appreciate and act on what you are communicating? Hint: NOT in a popup ad on a blog post while on their mobile phone at the airport – be sure to check your communications for audience-centric placement.

People care about things that make their lives better. What you say matters. Make it matter to your audience by making it about them. More on ‘Themifying’ your communication using the 5Ws is at https://hopspeednetworking.com/themify

‘Themify’ Your Value Introduction (Elevator Pitch)

‘Themify’ Your Value Introduction (Elevator Pitch)

When you (or your employees, board directors, members, friends, family) introduce your value, meet someone in an elevator, make a cold call, design an ad, share content, or just tell people what you do, what do you say? What your market cares about, of course! We call it ‘themifying’ your value.

THEMIFY Sounds Like
1) concentrate on, be about, or direct to others
2) make something of, relate something to, or focus something on others rather than self
3) replace “I”, “Me”, “We”, and “Us” with “You”, “They”, “Them”, or corresponding proper nouns

To themify your value, relay
1) Your market’s PAINS
2) Your UNIQUE solutions in terms of what’s in it for them
3) How people can EASILY work with or refer you

Here are some more detailed tips to help you develop your Themified Value Introduction – otherwise known as an elevator pitch:

    • Be Your Best Customers – what pains and desires do they have? What emotions do your solutions evoke? Example: Worries about safety, relief of big bills or big hassles, assurance of maintaining a standard of living, sense of well-being, a long healthy life, need for more time/money, relief of frustrations, etc.
    • Rather than what YOU do, communicate what’s in it for THEM – the market you serve, replacing ‘I’ and ‘We’ with ‘You’, ‘They’, ‘Them’, ‘People’, ‘Clients’, ‘Customers’, ‘Professionals’, etc.
    • Keep it Clear and Concise – Briefly answer each of the 5 W’s that will help your audience know where to file you in their minds and inspire them to begin a relationship if they or their connections have a need 1) Your market’s PAINS
      • What – What needs, desires, feelings, or emotions do the people you can help have? (‘Frame the Pain’)
        ‘You know how’, ‘If you are like most’, ‘Have you ever’, ‘Our clients tell us they want/don’t want’
      2) Your UNIQUE solutions in terms of what’s in it for them
      • Benefits (instead of the feature ‘we have 100 years of experience’ use ‘our clients rely on our 100 years of experience for…)
      • Emotion (‘People know, feel, like, love, enjoy, are relieved, are excited, are energized…’) Try these Why Words
      • Why – Why do people work with you or choose you over others – what is your ‘unique selling position’ This should answer the questions ‘Who cares?’, ‘So what?’ and ‘How can you make life better for me or people I know?’ 
      • Alleviation of the pain (‘Clients count on us to… help, fix, assure, guide, clarify, save, fill, …’)
      3) How people can EASILY work with or refer you
      • Where – Your market (client type) and, if it applies, scope and geography
        Example: businesses with 1 million in sales or above, with 10 or fewer employees, in Ohio
      • When – If it applies, are your solutions available now, on a specific date, or in relation to something?
      • Who -Name, Company, Feature/Tag Line – Keep it short and use the time for identifying their pain and what’s in it for them to use your products and services
      • How – How can they easily take advantage of your products and services
        • Provide samples, examples, and/or a website to visit for more information
        • Give them a discount card, flyer, or brochure
        • Let them know of an easy action they can take for a special offer
    • Practice – You practiced to become a pro at what you do. Be a pro at sharing what you do!

For more and a practice tool, visit https://www.hopspeednetworking.com/themify

“Don’t practice until you get it right, practice until you can’t get it wrong.”