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What makes a marketing campaign great? It’s the Big Question we all ask ourselves and, for what it’s worth, I have a partial answer.
Here are five things that are often overlooked by marketers but, done properly, can turn any campaign into a smashing success.
1. Start With a Better Product
Think your product is too boring to be great? Don’t tell that to the folks at the Sherwin-Williams. They revolutionized the retail paint industry by designing a paint can with an easy twist-off lid, comfortable side handle and no-drip spout. Oh, and it’s square to maximize shelf space. How’s that for making a boring product great?
It’s a lot easier to sell people a product that answers their needs–even needs they may not be aware of–than trying to convince them to buy an average or poorly designed one.
Consider this quote from Apple CEO, Steve Jobs. A master marketer if ever there was one:
It’s not about pop culture, and it’s not about fooling people, and it’s not about convincing people that they want something they don’t. We figure out what we want. And I think we’re pretty good at having the right discipline to think through whether a lot of other people are going to want it, too. That’s what we get paid to do. We just want to make great products. — Steve Jobs, Fortune Magazine
2. Be Clear
How many times have you watched a commercial and wondered what it was trying to sell? Quite a few, I’m willing to bet. How many campaigns have you created that did the same thing? Come on, be honest. We’ve all done it.
It’s easy to become blinded by the opinions of insiders, technology or the latest marketing trend and end up creating something that, while obscurely clever, fails to successfully market your product.
Some experts argue such campaigns are justified as “brand extension” or “customer experience”. Maybe. I say you’re better off creating a campaign that makes it easy for customers to understand what is great about your product why they should buy it.
A good example is this ad for Buckley’s Cough Syrup:
Funny, to the point, and it gets the message across. No list of unpronounceable ingredients, no baffling conceptual art, just a statement of the obvious: “It tastes awful”, followed by a gutsy claim: “And it works”. The TV commercials are brilliant too. Clear is always better than clever.
3. Design Better
The average American is exposed to between 200 and 3,000 ads per day. If it’s going to cut through the clutter, a marketing campaign better convey your message quickly, clearly and powerfully. That means good design.
Badly designed campaigns can damage an otherwise healthy brand by creating doubt in a customer’s mind about you, your product and your company. If you can’t get your marketing together then why should they buy your product?
By way of example: What would happen if Microsoft redesigned Apple’s famously understated packaging for the iPod? Watch the video below to find out. It’s not pretty. Good design matters. A lot.
Can’t see the embedded video? Click here.
4. Improve Customer Service
What does customer service have to do with a great marketing campaign? Well, if the campaign succeeds people will be making purchases, calling and emailing you with questions and, heaven forbid, experiencing problems.
It’s not sexy or trendy but great customer service can produce better results than any PR or marketing initiative, not to mention happy and loyal customers (and you need those more than ever right now).
Give them a great story to spread about how effortless the purchase was, about how well you took care of them and how quickly you solved their problem. The word will spread, I promise. Great word-of-mouth is priceless marketing and good customer service is an easy way to make it happen.
For some interesting examples of both good and bad customer service, check out my podcast “Marketing in Tough Times – Improving Customer Service“.
5. Remember, Your Customers are Human
Sure, treating customers as a faceless mass of numbers has it’s upside: it makes things like accounting, valuation and profit analysis easier.
But this industrial revolution mentality has its limits in today’s hyper-connected world. With the social web, we’ve moved beyond the simplistic concept of an individual mass of customers to customers as a mass of individuals. As a result, learning how humans work, specifically your humans, can reap enormous rewards.
Case in point, the following quote from John Medina’s book, Brain Rules:
“We are incredible at remembering pictures. Hear a piece of information, and three days later you’ll remember 10% of it. Add a picture and you’ll remember 65%.”
In short: learn how humans work and develop your message accordingly. Your efforts will be rewarded.
What other steps can businesses take to improving marketing? What would you add to this list? Leave a comment or email blog at keithmonaghan dot com.
Thanks for reading.
