Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1194291
B M & T ••• September/October 2019 ••• www.blackmeetingsandtourism.com 33 influence the customers on the outer circles of the dartboard." MISTAKE #10: You wind up too low or too high on the benefit ladder. A benefit ladder spells out the layers of your benefits from product features and specifications at the bottom, to functional benefits in the middle, to emotional benefits at the top. Savvy leaders choose to shine the spotlight on the rung of the ladder that is as high as their customer currently permits them to go, but no higher. The higher the better, until it is too high. The common errors here are choosing emphasis on the ladder that is either too low (features and product attributes) or too high (the intangible, ethereal benefits). If you are too low on the ladder, features will not create high enough value for your customer that she will be moved to buy and pay meaningful- ly for your offering. When your focus is too high on the ladder, you are not providing accessible scaffolding for the customer to believe your prom- ise. The linchpin of a ladder is its middle. The mid- dle is low enough to be accessible to the cus- tomer—sharp-edged, believable, rationally easy- to-grasp. Focusing on the ladder's middle enables you to deliver substantial value, gain a sizeable and defensible position, and appeal to emotions. MISTAKE #11: You try to reach all customers with one-size-fits-all messaging. There are five stages of a customer's journey with your brand: Unaware, Aware, Consider, Purchase, and Loyal. Your goal should be to craft a messaging hierarchy for customers at every stage of the journey. Unfortunately, many people are tempted to develop a sentence or paragraph so great that it will serve all your purposes – all stages of the journey. Resist the temptation. There is no one magic message that will advance all cus- tomers at all journey stages. Further, it's a mistake to conflate stages of the journey, either coming on too strong too soon (conflating the Aware or Consider stage with the Purchase stage) or bragging about your product features to someone not yet liking the promise (conflating the Consider or Purchase stage with the Loyal stage). Take your fences one at a time. "It's never too late to brush up on brand and start making better choices for your business," concludes Pedersen. "Don't let past mistakes derail your future success. Even if you recognize yourself or your product or service in every common mistake, you can still turn things around by making changes that will help you thrive starting today." ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Lindsay Pedersen is the author of Forging an Ironclad Brand: A Leader's Guide. She is a brand strategist, board advisor, coach, speaker, and teacher known for her scientific, growth-oriented approach to brand building. She developed the Ironclad Method for value-creating brands while working with billion-dollar businesses like Starbucks, Clorox, Zulily, T-Mobile, and IMDb, as well as many burgeoning start-ups. Lindsay lives in Seattle with her husband and two children. For more information, please visit www.ironcladbrandstrategy.com. ABOUT THE BOOK: Forging an Ironclad Brand: A Leader's Guid (Lioncrest Publishing, April 2019, ISBN: 978-1-544-51386-7, $27.99) is available at bookstores nation- wide and from major online booksellers.