Unlocking Powerful Marketing
Consistency -
I will argue this all day, consistency is a two-part element.
1 — Maintaining simplicity — Messaging and copy don’t need to be rocket science, say what you want to say over and over again in a simple fashion, and people will resonate with it.
2 — Association — Hopefully by now, you’ve been able to understand your customers, I mean really understand them. This is one of the highlights for me, I love talking with customers and hearing about their needs, wants, and pains. Additionally, as a marketer who also knows just enough code to get beat up, I build tools and journies that help explain the customer without them verbally telling me so.
Leveraging interactions and heuristics, look to build your marketing around the simple interactions consumers have with daily objects. In my first VP of Marketing role, we were small but had big goals. We found that food and education played a big connection point to the consumer.
Using the discussion point of food as the intro, we then found that education was a close second. All of our efforts went into developing messaging around enjoying meals together and how to adapt to various conditions outdoors. We curated content into blog posts, photos, and videos of almost every point we wanted to discuss.
These two points allowed us to become thought leaders in the space by educating from novice to advanced. We also gave people a reason to come together — think of a time when you were made while eating a good meal… NEVER! This gave us the emotion we wanted to be associated with — joy + pleasure.
Simplicity -
I’ve worked with CEOs and other C-suite leaders who cram all the technical information onto the packaging or on a landing page. They do a great job of giving all the data. The problem is when the consumer looks at it…
Here’s the breakdown, KEEP IT SIMPLE! Your goal is to say it by using the least amount of words possible. If there are too many points to the messaging, then you need to revisit your persona and narrow it to 1–2 messaging points. Test them all upfront, but when you go-to-market keep it simple.
Meet the Needs -
As mentioned above in Consistency, meet the needs your consumer has. You want to be the solution they seek, so go back to those consumer insights and shape your messaging around the solution they want to fix.
Drive Behavior -
Focusing on the solution to the customer’s pain point, you can shape the behavior of your customers. Take Uber, and when they went up against Taxis, they took the pain point of waiting for a taxi, hailing one to stop, and the fees!
Now you can call a private car from your phone, know who will pick you up, and know precisely when you will get picked up and arrive at your destination. BEST OF ALL you can pay without pulling out your credit card… I’m still upset about the taxi that said they took a credit card and drove me to an ATM where the fee was $6.00 for a $10.00 ride…
Uber shaped how people interact with transportation, they made it personal and so simple. Your focus on marketing should be the same way.
The last point in marketing that will blanket all aspects above, start with empathy. Truly understanding your customer and their needs is the approach that leads to great marketing. Focus on how you can help that customer achieve their goals while realizing their pain points, and you’ll achieve success.
Good Luck!
