Did you run into any friends this weekend? You might have and I’m willing to wager that the conversation wasn’t solely about their lives and how great they are. It’s like the joke where someone is chattering about themselves for 10 minutes and then says “but enough about ME! How do YOU like my watch?” No one would really do that, right?
Wrong. Seinfeld built a TV series about that sort of self-centered mindset and lots of marketers continue to behave that way every day. So in no particular order, here are a few things they might think about doing differently.
- Change your focus. Marketing today is conversational. If you’re delivering a marketing monologue, stop it. Lots of other folks – maybe even your competitors – are willing to listen and respond. You need to as well. I know you’re great – let me tell you what I need from your greatness.
- That’s expensive, you say. Spend it, I say. Tom Murphy, a real business genius in my book, used to tell all of the CapCities/ABC management to spend every penny we needed to achieve their plan: not one penny more but not one penny less. We often make the mistake of underfunding ourselves and missing opportunities. Don’t think I believe in tossing the budgets around wildly – I don’t. But opportunities are often fleeting and if we aren’t ready with the resources to grab them, we lose.
- As we’re spending remember that every customer is special but they’re not all equal. If you treat the person who buys from you every week the same as those who buy only at holiday, you’re dumb. You need to understand why the former is buying so often and then you need to thank them profusely for doing so. Free shipping, special offers, send them a bottle of wine with their meal – whatever. Treat everyone well and some folks especially so.
- Finally, as you move into other platforms, recognize that you can’t really re-purpose the same marketing materials across each one for them to be effective. Yes – the same campaign but no, not the same TV spot on the web. Obviously you wouldn’t let a web banner be a print ad so why assume what you do on Facebook works on your web site?
What do you think about that? Common sense or off the mark?
Consult Keith 