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Recently, Adam Sherk did some research and came up with a list of the most overused buzzwords and marketing speak in press releases. For anyone who writes press releases or companies that use them, this list is an eye-opener and a definite must read. It’s a good reminder that marketing speak has no place in press releases, and it’s a handy checklist for making sure it hasn’t sneaked in without you realizing it.

But why doesn’t marketing speak have a place in your press releases? After all, isn’t the end goal of press release distribution to create a buzz and, you know, market your company?

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Recently, we discussed the importance of proving your claims by using facts. To recap, customers don’t buy into empty claims. By backing up your claims with actual facts, you can earn their trust and eventually their sale.

But is it really as easy as just peppering in a bunch of statistics into your copy? No. Facts are certainly important, but how you use the facts is even more important. In other words, it’s not just what you say, it’s how you say it.

How should you present your facts to get the best possible results?

• Start with facts your customers already know—You can’t expect a shopper who knows nothing about you to instantly believe you. That’s why you need to start with facts your customers already know and statements that ring true. Your goal is to have them nodding to themselves saying, “Yes, I know that’s true. That means the other facts are true too.” Start with familiarity, then bring them into the truly remarkable facts you have.
• Present your facts in a dramatic way—Let’s be honest, statistics can be a bit boring on their own. But when you present them in an exciting way, they resonate better with the customer. Duracell doesn’t just say their batteries are the most trusted. They show you how pilots trust them to power their goggles, paramedics trust them to power their medical equipment, etc. This adds drama to the facts.
• Let the customer know what’s in it for him—Customers are selfish. All they care about is how they’ll benefit from buying your products or services. With that in mind, the facts you present need to be delivered from a customer’s point of view. Technical specifications are meaningless if the customer can’t make the connection of how they help make his life better.
• Performance evidence is more effective—You can talk all you want about how your product is built better or designed to perform better, but that’s just talk. Performance evidence is where it’s really at. Performance evidence details how the product has worked in actual use.
• Use testimonials that further solidify your claims—Testimonials are a good way to get performance evidence. Your customers will share how the product actually performed for them. This lets the customer better understand how the product will work for them, and it builds trust through third-party endorsements.

Do you use facts to backup your claims?

I’ve often talked about how today’s customer is more wary than ever before. When shopping around online, customers have their BS detectors turned all the way up. Every claim you make will be met with skepticism and seen as a lie until you prove otherwise. And for good reason. After all, consider all the crazy claims you get in your email inbox every single day:

“Lose 50 pounds without working out!”

“Make millions working just 4 hours a week!”

“Increase the size of your…”

Well, you get the idea.

The point is that if you have a claim, you have to prove it. You can’t just say your products or services will yield a certain benefit without presenting proof. By presenting facts, your claims are legitimized, and once your claims are legitimized, you earn the trust of your customers and eventually their sales.

There’s an old quote by Dr. Charles M. Edwards, an NYU professor at the School of Retailing, where he said, “The more facts you tell, the more you sell.” It’s simple, but truthful.

Of course, this leads to the question: How can you prove your claims? There are many ways to back your words up with facts.

• Case studies—Case studies are an in-depth investigation that show how your products or services yielded a specific result for a client. For example, if you sell a product that’s supposed to streamline contact management, a good case study would be to follow a client who purchased the product to show comparisons of how much time the product saves on contact management, how much it has improved customer loyalty, etc.
• Independent studies—Even better than your own studies are studies performed by independent researchers showing how effective your products are. You see this a lot with cleaning products. Labs will study Clorox and show that it cleans a certain percentage of germs or outperforms other cleaning products by a specific amount.
• Studying the competition—Take a look at the claims made by your competition. Are there any of them that you can prove you do better? For example, if the competition sells a printer that prints 100 pages a minute, can you prove that your printers print 200 pages a minute? By beating the competition at their own claims, you render them completely powerless.
• Testimonials—Even with all the facts in the world behind you, some people still don’t trust the word of a company because they know you’re trying to make a sale. However, customers do tend to trust other customers. So, include testimonials in your marketing materials that backup your claims.
• Video demonstrations—Seeing is believing. That’s why infomercials are so effective. When you see the ShamWow guy cleaning up a liter of coke in just seconds, you believe the product really does work. When you saw Billy Mays pulling an 18-wheeler with a chain patched with Mighty Putty, you suddenly bought into his claims. Incorporate video whenever possible.

What are some other things you do to prove your claims? Share your tips by leaving a comment.

I’ve often mentioned that shoppers are a selfish bunch. The only thing they’re concerned with is how your products or services will help them. Every marketing message you create needs to answer their biggest question, “What’s in it for me?”

This, of course, boils down to the benefits of your offerings. How can you tie your product to the benefits your audience cares most about? Here’s a list of common benefits your customers desire.

• Improved health—Does your product help people live a longer life? Lose weight? Increase their strength? Get sick less often? Have more energy? Just feel better?
• More money—Money talks, BS walks. It’s all about the money. Money resonates with nearly everyone. If your product helps people get more money, play that angle up.
• More time—Who can’t use a little more time? With more time, people can travel, have fun, spend time with the family, or even work more and make more money if that’s what they want to do.
• Convenience—Does your product make something that’s normally a hassle much easier? Is it “so easy a caveman can do it”? Ease and convenience are always desirable benefits.
• Social advancement—Social status is important, and it ties to more products than you think. It’s usually the reason people by certain cars, tech gadgets (iPhone anybody?), clothes, you name it. Everybody wants to keep up with the Joneses.
• Business advancement—Success. Career advancement. More recognition. More money. People are always looking for ways to further their careers, so if your product can help with that, let readers know.
• Improved self-confidence—Why do people lose weight? Why do they get their hair cut? Go to the tanning salon? It all comes down to self-confidence. People want to feel good about themselves. Help them do so.
• Being on the cutting edge—In this tech-driven world, a lot of people want to be the first in different things. These people are the innovators and early adopters, and using words like “new” and “first” can really capture their attention.

What are some other types of benefits products can deliver?

If your business is like most others, you lose at least a few customers every year. It’s just part of doing business. Customers move on for a range of reasons and never come back. While some loss of customers is acceptable and even unavoidable, you have to be careful and make sure the customers you’re losing can’t be saved.

To minimize the number of customers you lose, there are many tactics you can put to use.

• Ask customers why they’re leaving—Chances are, more than a few customers have stopped doing business with you for a similar reason. By finding out what it is that’s driving customers to leave you, you can try to resolve these problems, and more importantly, you can prevent them from happening again in the future. The key is to always listen to your customers. Most times, they’ll give you the insight into why they’re leaving. If not, you can try emailing links to online surveys to learn more from them.
• Keep in constant contact with your current customers—Don’t take your current customers for granted. You can’t just assume they’ll remember you and keep doing business with you. You have to continue nurturing your relationship by keeping regular contact with them and offering them the highest level of service.
• Be willing to apologize and resolve customer complaints—Disputes happen. No matter how excellent your customer service is and how flawless your products may be, there will always be customers who are seemingly impossible to please. If you want to save the customer, you can’t make excuses. You need to apologize for any possible mistakes your company has made and do what it takes to resolve the situation.
• If you have permission, continue marketing to lost customers—If a lost customer is still on your email or mailing list, send special messages aimed at getting their business back. You can offer special discounts for coming back. Make sure your messages speak directly to their situation. Netflix is very good about this. When you unsubscribe, they’ll follow up saying “we’ve missed you” and offer a coupon for coming back.
• Reward loyal customers—I’ll say it again, don’t take your current customers for granted. If you do, they will leave you. You need to make it impossible for them to find a reason to leave you. Show them how much you appreciate their business by rewarding loyal customers with extra perks like discounts, free service, etc.

What are some of the steps you take to minimize the number of customers you lose? Share your best strategies by leaving a comment.