Look at me, Look at me Look at me
Perhaps that's offensive, but I feel confident making that statement about the majority of businesses. The problem: everyone tries to play it safe. When marketing, safe is unnoticeable, and unnoticeable doesn't win customers
Your business aside, try to recall the company/message/information for any recent magazine, television, or internet ad. I think both volume and unoriginality make it hard to come up with more than a few examples.
Why are companies spending the money to go unnoticed? In my opinion, there are two main issues.
The first reason is strategic, they aren't effectively defining and/or measuring results of specific campaigns.
The second, perhaps more fatal reason is the perception of safety maintaining the status quo. However, safe advertising is bland and feels unauthentic. Why should I believe "Coke Is It," when Pepsi is telling me the same thing.
In the long run, the safety game will force a company to:
Fail
Commoditize, i.e. be the cheapest, most, etc. A hard game to maintain.
Or play by different rules. Stand out, be different, evoke passion, be loved and hated, not just liked.
So what to do? Like some other parts of consulting, a main frustration with marketing is lack of accountability. It's fairly easy to create a new slogan, ad or even entire campaign. However once implemented, measuring results can become difficult. Therefore, as you begin to explore your options ask yourself "what do I want to get out of a new marketing campaign?"
While this question seems simple, the answer, due to lack of detail, often turns out to be fairly worthless. Any derivative of the common answer"To increase sales, notice, etc." isn't good enough. What return do you expect on every dollar spent? Who do you want to notify? Why will they believe your message?
I can explain my process in two ways:
1. It starts with a detailed interview to nail down these needs as specifically as possible. We'll analyze past marketing successes and failures of both your company and your competitors. We then discuss the merits of a variety of advertising venues, as well as rough ideas on how to stand out. After which it's back to the drawing board where upon return, one or multiple concepts will be presented and debated before finalization and subsequent implementation.
2. #1 is boring. What I really want to say is this: We'll begin to talk, if we like each other, we'll continue on and look at your needs. I'll think of various campaigns that will create passion, both good and bad, about your product, message, etc. If you don't like this approach, there are thousands of firms ready to work on something more traditional.
My goal is to help you convey a noticeable, measurable and honest message. If that doesn't work for you, no problem.
The majority of my recent experience has been with SEO, online and non-traditional methods. To impress you, I could attach different "buzzwords" (viral marketing, Web 2.0, etc.) with any of these methods. However that's trite and transparent to you and your audience.
Instead, I believe I can help in many cases with honesty. Finding and working with the reasons consumers trust your message, rather than telling them why they should. For more discussion, feel free to contact me.