Dan Kennedy eloquently states a key principle in marketing by referring to the ?message to market match'. Let's review this important concept.



Firstly, let's break it down. Your ?message' is WHAT you tell the customer to persuade them to buy your product or service. Incidentally, don't confuse the message with the media or medium used to ?transport' the message, such as an eBay listing, a classified ad, a yellow pages ad, a website page etc.

The ?market' is your audience of customers. Your current or future potential buyers. So the marketing message you put out should be a good fit with your audience of buyers.

Sometimes it's more instructive to learn from the wrong way of doing this than the right, so let's do that.

In preparing this article I had to look no further than my computer screen. I use a piece of software called ?WinAmp' to play MP3's on my computer, and this is how the screen looks when that application is open:

Now, you should know that in order to buy the full version of WinAmp I had to submit my full contact details, and WinAmp knows when I'm online because it verifies that I'm a paid user when I open it up, and then the software displays ads. If you're one step ahead you'll have noticed the ad that was showing as I was preparing this article. Look again at the screenshot. It's for tampax, the feminine hygiene product! Like I said, WinAmp KNOWS my profile, KNOWS I'm male, and yet they still display an ad for Tampax. Actually, the fault here might lie with the makers of Tampax because they should have demanded demographic targeting. That ad should obviously only be shown to women, and an ad that matches the male audience should have been shown to me. Inexcusable for a company like that.

That was a prime example of NOT matching the message to the market. I'm not a customer for Tampax, nor will I ever be one, but Tampax still wasted money trying to market to me.

Can you see why this is such an important concept?

So how can we apply message to market match on eBay? Well, firstly you need to have identified who you're ideal customer is. Where do they live, what income bracket are they in, what age range do they fall in - basically you need to find out as much as possible about them.

I know what you're thinking ? it's not possible to narrow it down like that. Yes, it is. Admittedly, it IS impossible to pigeon hole ALL your customers, so we're simply looking for the overall demographic, the average buyer. There will always be variations. But we're looking for the similarities among the majority. To get this information you can conduct a survey (try surveymonkey), analyze existing statistical data (enlist the help of your local librarian), or simply use what you already know from your personal interaction with customers over a period of time.

Armed with that information of who your typical customer is, your message should be written with that person in mind. The writing style should match what that person would expect to receive. If they expect formal, write formally. If they expect casual, write casually. If they're in an industry or club that uses its own language or jargon, identify yourself as one of them by including language that proves that. If you sound like an outsider, you'll be treated like one ? and your message will be rejected.

If you know your audience finds it difficult to understand complicated terminology, then dumb it down for them. There's nothing wrong with that. After all, it's not about what's good for you ? it's what will work for THEM. Don't get precious or protective with your writing when creating the marketing message. Lastly, make sure the keywords you choose for your title attract the right type of customer, and that the category you choose does the same. Those choices do make a difference. You can see that this is somewhat of an advanced strategy, but the fundamental concept is a simple one ? your marketing message MUST appeal to your target audience. There isn't an ad agency in the world that hasn't made this mistake, so it's a good reminder to us all.