Mktng: 3 Essential Rules
In the Golden Age of Advertising, the popular maxim was to “Sell the sizzle, not the steak”.
The Golden Age is dead. These days, it’s all about the steak.
In today’s crowded marketplace, customers are seeking real solutions, convenience and value. They are seeking authentic brands from people and companies built on integrity and transparency.
As fewer large corporations are truly able to offer these attributes, the playing field is open for creative entrepreneurs and small businesses to connect and succeed with large segments of the population.
Keep these Three Essential Marketing Tips in mind when targeting your audience:
1) It’s Not About YOU, It’s About THEM – This is the single most important rule that I have learned in my sixteen years in Advertising.
“ALL ABOUT ME” ©2009 Nikolas Allen
Oddly enough, this rule truly dawned on me just this year! There’s nothing like a recession to force entrepreneurs to find new ways of convincing people to spend money on Products and Services (P/S).
Most of us, myself included, have spent so much time touting the BENEFITS of our offerings, that we’ve virtually ignored the VALUES of our customers. This is a mistake.
Marketing is about identifying the customer’s problem (values, needs, desires) and solving it with your solution (product, service, message).
When you know the values of your customer, you can speak to customers in a way that aligns your P/S with their values and craft your solution in a way that directly solves their problem.
This is even more effective if your P/S has a strong Point of Difference (that which sets you apart from your competition).
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2) Be Authentic – When solving your customer’s problems, make sure you’re being honest, and not just telling them what they want to hear.
“TOXIC PRODUCT” ©2009 Nikolas Allen
There’s a rising eco-consciousness among consumers and, as a result, a lot of companies are resorting to “green-washing”. That is touting the “green” or “ecological” benefits of their products that are either insignificant or not entirely true.
Swiss company, SIGG, makers of those handsome aluminum water bottles with hip graphics, has come under fire recently. It seems the liners in their bottles contain trace amounts of BPA (bisphenol A), a hazardous chemical that can leach into the contents of the bottle and cause serious health problems.
Apparently the company has known this for a couple years and chose not to disclose it to their consumers! When the news broke, the CEO offerered a half-baked apology and claims the company, “never marketed the bottles as BPA-free”.
This is an especially lame excuse considering their entire brand is positioned as being an earth-friendly alternative to plastic bottles (many of which also contain BPA).
This is a major blow to the authenticity of their brand and my guess is that the company is going to suffer severely for it.
Apparently, SIGG is now offering exchanges on the tainted bottles (although there is NO mention whatsoever of the recent scandal or their reaction to it on their website), but that is too little, too late, and it will be very difficult for the company to regain the trust of consumers. When it comes to crisis management, SIGG SUXX!
On a positive note, there is now an opportunity for a more authentic company to increase their market share by reaching out to the disillusioned customers who are abandoning the SIGG brand in droves.
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3) Explore New Channels – If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten. As economies fluctuate, buying trends change and technology advances, it’s important for you to adapt and adjust.
“SOCIAL NETWORKING” ©2009 Nikolas Allen
There is massive hype surrounding social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. All of these platforms can definitely be useful in reaching out to your audience, but they should also just be considered as another tool in your arsenal.
A big question on many people’s mind right now is, “Should I be using these platforms for my business?”
The answer, in a word, is YES.
You can probably find several justifiable excuses why NOT to add a social media element to your marketing (large time investment, little returns, hard to gauge effectiveness), but this is not just a fad that will go away if you ignore it.
If you don’t jump in now, while the social media landscape is still being developed, the learning curve will only get steeper.
However, there is a certain etiquette required in using these platforms for business. Simply treating these new marketing tools (interactive, engaging, personal, dialogue) as updated versions of the old ones (impersonal, static, monologue) will be as effective as using a feather duster when you need a hammer.
Keep Essential Tip #1 in mind when using social media to make sure you are SHARING WITH your audience instead of TALKING AT them. Use your tweets and profile updates to educate, enlighten and entertain.
Share knowledge, tips, tricks, tutorials, links and items of interest to establish your brand as an important SOURCE of trustworthy and desirable information.
Social networking offers new avenues to connect with your audience, but don’t expect your sales or profits to increase overnight. Exploring these new channels should be viewed as a long-term strategy in building relationships, which will only enhance the opportunity for success from your future marketing efforts.
Of course, there are many marketing tips, tricks and rules to utilize to engage the marketplace – and we’ll be discussing plenty more in the future. These are just three that have seemed especially relevant lately.
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YOUR TURN:
Do you have any Marketing tips that have worked well for you recently? Have you been astounded by the sheer lack of authenticity in any particular company lately? Any social media success stories out there?
Welcome to Nikolas Allen Art dot com. I am a Contemporary Pop Artist with a background in music, advertising and video production. 
Comments
Hi Nikolas, Good job!! You might want to talk to Marie at the chamber to discuss your project. They have avenue for a short talk to Chamber members every month at their meetings. You could promote your consulting business and classes when you get there. Call her at 926-3690 I’m not sure how far in advance they book speakers?
Nice cartoons!
>> Christopher - Thank you! I’m pretty stoked on ‘em too. The post took about a few days to write. The artwork – a few weeks! Small windows of time here and there, of course, but still…
Not sure how long I’ll be able to able to keep THAT pace up. If my posts start having zero images, you’ll know why!
I know how that goes. I made slide shows to a few videos I posted on youtube (new medium for me) that were fairly time-consuming. They’re on my website listed here on your site.
>> Lauri - Awesome, thanks for the advice and the contact!
I’ll definitely give Marie a call and see if I can sell her on my “expertise”.
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