Get Simple. Get Obvious. Get Customers.

Marketing is not rocket science. 

By Sheila R. Rose

The problem is many marketing professionals and company executives act like it is. Unless the marketing strategy is complicated, clever and completely unlike anything they’ve ever seen, they won’t like it.

The truth is over the long run simple, obvious marketing strategies win and outlast the competition.

To build a company, take the following simple steps:

1. Develop a product / service customers need.
2. Differentiate your product / service from the competition.
3. Identify the core target group that would most benefit from your product / service.
4. Communicate your brand through the most effective channels to reach your core target group.
5. Stick to your brand promise no matter what.

Jack Trout in his book, In Search of the Obvious says “…the reality is that a simple strategy is obvious. If it’s obvious to you, it will also be obvious to your customers, which is why it will work in the marketplace.”

An example of a company that initiated a simple viral marketing strategy that undeniably worked was Hotmail.

What did they do?

1. Gave away free email addresses and services to everyone.
2. Included a simple tag at the bottom of every free message sent out, “Get your private, free email at www.hotmail.com.
3. Watched as millions of subscribers signed up.
They didn’t try to be clever or cute or edgy or hip or cool. Everything they did from the user interface design to the messaging was Simple. It was Obvious. It got Customers flooding in.

Good use of advertising should not be spent on entertaining people. If you want to entertain your customers, send them free tickets to the movies. Instead good advertising dollars should be spent on telling people about your product / service and why they need it. Recently, TiVo conducted a research on the least fast-forwarded ad campaign. The winner? The home gym brand Bowflex. Bowflex makes a rational claim. “Use this machine and you will look as hot as the people in the commercial using it.” Bowflex is probably the least entertaining commercial I’ve seen on t.v. EVER. But it works because it is simple and obvious.

Remember that while awareness is important it doesn’t necessarily compel action. Awareness without action is a waste of time.

Everything from business cards to brochures to websites should compel action. Again, don’t get cute, clever and complicated. Get simple. Get obvious. Get customers.
Considered stating “Call me” on your business card. Isn’t that why you give people your business card in the first place?

Does your marketing need to Get Simple? Get Obvious? Get Customers? Then let's talk.  Contact me at sheila@andrencreative.com.

[Side note: My trip to Iran was simply awesome. Will share details soon.]

Why your marketing isn't working...

Your marketing isn't working, but do you know why? The answer is simple, however it needs some explanation.

Your marketing isn't working because most of the common marketing formulas don't work and business is in a different climate today.

Please re-read that last sentence.

It's a common misconception that 'the formulas don't work because we're in a different climate today.' That joining word is what is fundamentally wrong and one so easily overlooked.

In this post I'll explain the difference, but first - a story!
I got an eye infection while traveling a couple of years ago and had to go to an urgent care clinic. The doctor there gave me some medication and advised me it would take two days to take effect. I took my pills immediately and waited for the results. My eye began to improve slightly but after a week it was still bothering me, so I went to my optometrist. Naturally I told him about my visit to the doctor so he asked me what I was currently using.

When I replied he chuckled.

He advised me that the medicine I had been given by the urgent care doctor was effective back in the sixties and that the infection I had in my eye was much different than the strain the medicine was designed for. He prescribed me a modern medication that took care of the problem lickety-split!

My eye and your business are both very important to our lives.
Whether you work for a company or own your own business, your marketing, like my eye, has to be effective. Your marketing isn't working but what medicine do you have to fix it? Is it the right one? It's also important to understand why your marketing problems arise in the first place so that it doesn't happen again.

First, understand that the marketing climate has changed. For good.
Effective marketing was based primarily on an old model, that being television, radio and/or print. It used to be that if you had a product or service you simply needed to bring about awareness via one of these methods and people would respond. Your business would make money and the cycle continued.

What has changed is that the advent of the computer and business in the Information Age has become hyper-efficient at littering the landscape with demands for your attention. People in western civilization can see up to 3,000 impressions of advertising a day! People are not watching television, listening to the radio or reading the paper like they used to. When was the last time you looked up a nail salon in that 65-pound yellow book?

Did you Google it on your iPhone?

Out with the old...
While the old model is out the door the terrifying fact is that most businesses and agencies [whom you'd assume would be on top of trends] haven't changed!

People used to actively watch television and sit through the commercials. Nowadays they flip the channels or Tivo their favorite shows and skip past the commercials. Some people fall in love with a show and don't watch it until the DVD series comes out. Young viewers especially have tuned out television or have fine-tuned it to their liking. With thousands of channels available, the internet calling and DVR, advertising just doesn't have the same effect that they used to.

Ever wonder why commercials have gotten so weird?



Agencies are desperate to stand out.

Information overload.
The human brain has not adapted as quickly to the rapid advances of technology and advertising in general.
While we are an intelligent species in terms of how we use our brain in adapting to our technological advances we have not Darwinized our mental capacity to process the automated opt-in email blasts, five-thousand brands of cereal choices or the headache one gets while walking around Wal-Mart. It's simply too much to process.

The Four P's of Marketing
Marketing is traditionally based on 'The Four P's'. Some people use 'The Seven P's' or add their own but the four core components are there in process for most companies. You can see them working in yours.

PRODUCT
The product is defined as the actual goods or services, and how each relates to the prospects needs or desires.

PRICING
Pricing is established as the cost to the consumer for a product, including discounts.

PROMOTION
Promotion is multi-faceted. It's core components are advertising, sales promotion and publicity. Branding and it's sub-components (promoting the product, brand, or company) are also in effect here.

PLACEMENT
Placement simply means distribution. How does the product get to the customer? The customer [target audience] needs to be defined and demographics need to be understood.

Kriss-Kross Marketing
While the Four P's of Marketing have some validity to them, the approach is backwards. They are good tools to support an approach but aren't being used for the right purpose. A sledgehammer held upside down.

Here's the rub...

Marketing used to work DESPITE 'The Four P's' approach being incredibly flawed. The reason it is flawed is that it focuses on a company marketing towards to it's prospective audience, but the audience is busy defending itself. It's like fishing shoulder to shoulder in a shallow pond. Imagine the poor fish swimming away from dozens of hooks.

The true essence of marketing should be the opposite.
Now more than ever we need to market to how the prospect thinks, acts and feels. He or she is bombarded with bulk mail and is wading in a swamp of unwanted e-mail. How do you market to that person?

During the Presidential debates both candidates spoke about the idea of fixing the economy with a scalpel or a hatchet. Marketing today absolutely needs a scalpel and one that needs to be in the hands of the prospect not the other way around. The sooner a business understands that - the better.

Who is fixing your problem?
The first doctor at the urgent care clinic was obviously trained to do general medical practice and hadn't kept up on the latest with optometry. Who could blame him! I learned during that instant to always see a specialist - especially for something as important as your eyesight. But what about your business? Do you see a specialist or go to a general practice? or worse yet do you treat yourself?

:: Tim Andren