What do you want your customers to hear? (Guide to Small Business E-commerce Strategy)

I watched a little TV this morning. In the back of a taxi. And I say a little, not just because the screen was small, but because after a couple minutes of watching promo after promo for NBC shows, I gave up and went back to my mobile newsreader.

ABC offers TV news in cabs, too. I watch those all the time. The difference is NBC offers non-stop commercials while ABC has news, movie and restaurant reviews, basically everything you’d need to get to know New York City a little bit better. If I was a tourist, guess which network I’d be more interested in watching?

So why is NBC doing this? Don’t they get it? Apparently not. Good thing you’re not like them, right?

The problem many traditional advertisers have is putting their message ahead of the message their customers care about. Me, I wanted to hear the weather, not get another soft-focus shot of Brian Williams telling me why I should get my political news from his employer. As David Kushman explained so well on /Message last week, your customers have better things on their mind than your billboards.

How can you cut through this clutter? Can you get your customers to pay attention? Sure. Do what ABC does on it’s little taxi TV’s:

1. Listen to what matters to your customers. If I’m tooling around New York, movies, restaurants, and weather are exactly the sort of thing that I’m going to care about. You can do the same. Social networks, surveys and plain old face-to-face discussions give a great picture of what’s on your customer’s mind.
2. Speak with both logic and emotion. Yes, your customers are smart. But they also care. Deeply. Give them something to care about. ABC uses interviews with restaurateurs, actors and directors in selling its stories. Do the same. Make them care.
3. Address the benefits of your product to your customers’ needs. Now a little taxi TV aligns perfectly. After all, it beats listening to the cabbie’s cell phone conversation. But you can do the same. It doesn’t matter what your product does. It matters why your customer would care. So tell them.

Is it a foolproof system? Yes. At least as close as they come. Listening to your customer and carrying on a conversation with them about what they care about works. And, you don’t have to worry about potholes. Or your customers changing the channel.

How are you getting your customers to listen? Tell us about it in the comments below. And make sure you subscribe to thinks to never miss an update.