The Importance of a Clear MWA
Today we wanted to talk about Most Wanted Actions (MWAs).
Here’s the rule…
“Every marketing communication you put out there should have 1 clear Most Wanted Action i.e. you need to be clear in your mind what one thing you want your customer/potential customer to do.”
This one rule will help revolutionise how well you get across your marketing messages, because the more choice we throw at customers, the less impact the marketing communication as a whole will have.
To get across this point we are going to play a game.
Firstly say hello to Pete, and imagine he is your potential customer.
Now imagine each ball symbolises one clear marketing message
LET’S PLAY CATCH!
If you throw one clear marketing message at Pete, the chance are he’ll catch it.
Yes he can catch. Phew!
Let’s make it harder. Throw 2 balls at Pete (e.g. 2 marketing messages at the same time), and it becomes twice as hard to catch them both.
Just about managed.
Let’s make it even harder. 3 balls this time…
At this point it becomes too difficult and Pete’s barely managed to catch just one of the messages.
And so cluttered websites, flyers packed full of everything you could possibly say in tiny text, newsletters that turn into books, and networking pitches that go on forever are the equivalent of this…
It becomes impossible to catch anything (take in any marketing message), because everything is being said at once in a splurge of non targeted information.
So what’s the point?
The point is, every single piece of marketing you do should have one MWA (Most Wanted Action), and you need to be clear what this MWA is before you do any planning.
Going hand in hand with a clear MWA is a clear CTA (Call to Action). A CTA is a clear instruction of what you would like the customer/potential customer to do next, nudging them towards the MWA.
What do you really want a person to do? With this, your marketing should have one clear C.T.A. (Call To Action), where you are telling the potential customer explicitly what you would like them to do next.
You can apply this to everything…
Networking Pitches, Flyers, Websites, Adverts, Social Media, Telesales, Email Marketing etc.
We aren’t saying only ever have one message that you say over and over. But only say one in every marketing instance.
So if you are having a flyer designed, have it to a particular audience with one particular message. If you have an opportunity to talk to a room of people, try thinking of a main message with a solid call to action. Don’t make your website home page overcrowded with lots of CTAs, keep it simple and ease people through. And so on… apply this to every marketing communication you have.
If you keep this in mind with all the marketing you do, you’ll find your marketing messages are much more effective, and you get the right messages to the right people, and most importantly get them to CATCH.
ACTION: Think of either the last bit of marketing you did, or your next piece of marketing.
ACTION: Decide on what the MWA is.
ACTION: Analyse your marketing by asking the question ‘Am I nudging people towards this MWA, or I am throwing too much at them?’
ACTION: Decide on a solid CTA to go with the MWA