This post sequence aims to encourage in-depth relational marketing for coaches, consultants and freelancers. It builds into a questionnaire to help them prepare their relational marketing strategy. This third post builds on the first, about your vision or business purpose and second, about your market. Elements of your promise are explicit but an implicit promise can be powerful.
Your Explicit and Implicit Promises
Your promise is at the very heart of marketing. Whatever you say or do to promote your business or cause, it comes back to your promise.
Your explicit promise is sometimes called the benefit. It is essential you understand the distinction between features and benefits and you must make sure your market understands your benefits.
Your implicit promise is not something you allude to directly. It relates to your Vision and the psychographics of your market. They see something in your vision and so trust you will deliver it.
Your implicit promise is: you will see it through and meet the unvoiced expectations of your customer. This is why it is important coaches choose their customers carefully and listen to them. Together you are weavers of dreams.
Your Promise
- Consider one of your products or services. What is its explicit promise?
- What is its implicit promise? Consider both emotional and intellectual aspects.
- Does your promise need to be bigger, more specific, less specific?
Making Your Promise
Taken together, your vision, market and promise make up your identity as a business-owner. Review your answers to the questions in this and the last two posts. Decide on changes when you consider them together.
One valuable insight from the implicit promise is, it allows you space to over-deliver. You may find you need to support your customer over periods of upset when their business does not go in the anticipated direction. Consider: how far are you prepared to go? Remember as you take on more customers, you have less time to devote to each of them.
Are there bonuses you can deliver, once they have signed up, that will begin to deliver your implicit promise with minimal effort from you?
This is the third in a post sequence to encourage coaches to reflect on relational marketing. Sign up below to get a weekly round-up of my posts and a pdf about how to make sure you are charging what your business is worth. Most weeks you will receive an email with useful news or pointers to how you can tackle these questions.
