Keeping It Simple, Stupid
OK, we all must know the well used addage K.I.S.S - keep it simple stupid.
Well, most effective marketing really is about doing just that.
Think about it.
You already intuitively know what compels you to buy stuff and probably know already what makes people buy from you. What we fail to do most of the time is recreate this intuitive stuff in our own marketing activities.
Basically, if you actually define what it is you know intuitively and recreate this in the way you communicate with your buyers - you can't lose.
The simplest thing you can do is FOCUS. Focus on what it is that buyers are looking for, Focus on being completely relevant to them. Focus on what makes you different from others, Focus on how you can resolve your buyers issues.
It doesn’t matter whether someone is buying a packet of cereals in a supermarket, a new shirt or a major CRM or IT system for their company, everyone still makes decisions to buy based on emotion.
Tapping into that emotion is the key to making your marketing successful.
If you look at it objectively, most people really don't want to spend hours doing research - it's a pain. They much prefer to using recommendations, hear from their peers, be told which is the best product etc etc. Use the psychology of social proof to show how others are using your product and who they are.
You may know this by another name - case studies!
OK, so if we all know that case studies are good - why is it that it seems as though ''case studies' is a dirty term for a lot of people. The number of times I've seen people sigh and raise their eyes when the term case studies has been brought up both in my Agency existence and in my client-side experience as well. It's as if people think they're some kind of chore or a tool that agencies role out as a standard idea for their fee and therefore don't take them as seriuosly as they should do. They tend to know they should do them but it's as if they have an aversion to doing them properly. Why don't people use them correctly? Why don't some people use them at all?
Here's a thought - don't use the term case studies. Ban it. Call it something else.
Make it more meaningful. Make people think about it in a differnet way from the negative way they seem to look at them at the moment. Think about how to use the information that's vailable to you to it's best advantage -
You are trying to explain to your buyer how others (their peers) have been in similar situations and how they resolved their problems by using your product - it's entirely relevant and more importantly informative and not a hrad sell but it hits the emotion buttons which pulls people a step closer to the sale whith minimal effort.
It doesn't mean you should just churn out an A4 page case study sheet or something. Think about what the best way of getting this information to them is - where is the best place for them to see this - where would you intuitively look for information on your product? Could it be an integral part of your website or the sales process on it? Could it be the basis of an ad?
Remember your advertising HAS to live up to its promise - your buyer has to have a totally positive experience from the off. Advertising sets expectations which you HAVE to meet if you are to hit on that emotional button. Be sure it's one that your buyer will want to tell other people about.
The one thing that still amazes me in this day and age is the number of ads out there that are just awful. OK I would say that coming from an advertising background but come on guys - do you really think that some of the stuff out there compels people to want to go and either find out more about a product or, heaven's forbid, actually buy something?
The most a lot of these companies can expect from their ads is 'yeah, so what?' - Seriously, who'd be happy with that result?
So why is it they still do it? Is it lethargy, is it they don't think thye're important , is it that they can't quantify the effectiveness? Is it that thye think it'll cost a fortune to get good ads done?
Whatever it is, so many companies seem to be doing 'me to' advertising where they should be doing 'stand out' advertising. And it's wasted money and effort! It's that simple.
Well, most effective marketing really is about doing just that.
Think about it.
You already intuitively know what compels you to buy stuff and probably know already what makes people buy from you. What we fail to do most of the time is recreate this intuitive stuff in our own marketing activities.
Basically, if you actually define what it is you know intuitively and recreate this in the way you communicate with your buyers - you can't lose.
The simplest thing you can do is FOCUS. Focus on what it is that buyers are looking for, Focus on being completely relevant to them. Focus on what makes you different from others, Focus on how you can resolve your buyers issues.
It doesn’t matter whether someone is buying a packet of cereals in a supermarket, a new shirt or a major CRM or IT system for their company, everyone still makes decisions to buy based on emotion.
Tapping into that emotion is the key to making your marketing successful.
If you look at it objectively, most people really don't want to spend hours doing research - it's a pain. They much prefer to using recommendations, hear from their peers, be told which is the best product etc etc. Use the psychology of social proof to show how others are using your product and who they are.
You may know this by another name - case studies!
OK, so if we all know that case studies are good - why is it that it seems as though ''case studies' is a dirty term for a lot of people. The number of times I've seen people sigh and raise their eyes when the term case studies has been brought up both in my Agency existence and in my client-side experience as well. It's as if people think they're some kind of chore or a tool that agencies role out as a standard idea for their fee and therefore don't take them as seriuosly as they should do. They tend to know they should do them but it's as if they have an aversion to doing them properly. Why don't people use them correctly? Why don't some people use them at all?
Here's a thought - don't use the term case studies. Ban it. Call it something else.
Make it more meaningful. Make people think about it in a differnet way from the negative way they seem to look at them at the moment. Think about how to use the information that's vailable to you to it's best advantage -
You are trying to explain to your buyer how others (their peers) have been in similar situations and how they resolved their problems by using your product - it's entirely relevant and more importantly informative and not a hrad sell but it hits the emotion buttons which pulls people a step closer to the sale whith minimal effort.
It doesn't mean you should just churn out an A4 page case study sheet or something. Think about what the best way of getting this information to them is - where is the best place for them to see this - where would you intuitively look for information on your product? Could it be an integral part of your website or the sales process on it? Could it be the basis of an ad?
Remember your advertising HAS to live up to its promise - your buyer has to have a totally positive experience from the off. Advertising sets expectations which you HAVE to meet if you are to hit on that emotional button. Be sure it's one that your buyer will want to tell other people about.
The one thing that still amazes me in this day and age is the number of ads out there that are just awful. OK I would say that coming from an advertising background but come on guys - do you really think that some of the stuff out there compels people to want to go and either find out more about a product or, heaven's forbid, actually buy something?
The most a lot of these companies can expect from their ads is 'yeah, so what?' - Seriously, who'd be happy with that result?
So why is it they still do it? Is it lethargy, is it they don't think thye're important , is it that they can't quantify the effectiveness? Is it that thye think it'll cost a fortune to get good ads done?
Whatever it is, so many companies seem to be doing 'me to' advertising where they should be doing 'stand out' advertising. And it's wasted money and effort! It's that simple.
posted by Nick Field at 2/01/2005 11:15:00 AM
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