Step 4 – What’s Missing From Traditional Marketing Advertising

WOMB5 Show Notes as a Downloadable pdf   Status Quo Marketing: Messages With No “Secret Sauce” There exist tons upon tons of marketing in our world: in print, in display ads, and on the Internet. Almost all of it focuses on the companies which are doing the marketing; meaning, the marketing messages are about how Company X: is #4 in their overall industry, the best of their industry in their home state or county, have this or that award for [fill in the blank], or even have been in business since Christopher Columbus landed in the New World. These ads are also focusing on the products and/or services they offer, including their features and benefits. You may be thinking, “Well, of course! The business needs to state their standing in their industry. If they are highly recognized, have a long legacy of being in business, or display testimonials from satisfied customers—if they can. That’s what inspires confidence in potential customers. So these potential customers choose that business over another competing business. That is the purpose of marketing.” And, if this is your thought, you would be correct. That is what marketing is and what marketing has been for decades—the development of messages that profess the awesome-ness of a company. It starts with how one business owner’s company is better than Company B or Company C because of the features of their product, the length of time they have been in business, the quality of their product, and their dedication to customer service, etc. So What’s Wrong? In the above example, I painted a very generic illustration of most of the marketing we see and hear, Company X claims its awesome-ness is greater than Company B or Company C, examples of their competition. Let’s call that generic example Company A. Well, just as you know everything about your business, Company A’s owner knows everything about Company A. And just like you, Company A’s owner is committed to having his/her marketing materials represent his/her Company in the best manner possible. However, Company A is speaking from its perspective—the perspective of Company A; how great their products and services, are, how great Company A is, what high percentages they may have achieved in their Quality Assurance, how they are the #1, or #2, or #10 out of 400,000 businesses that provide the same products/services, and why we should buy their stuff instead of buying from Company B or Company C, who offer the same, or similar, products/services. Yes, that is the third time I’ve made the point that marketing messages drone on and on about their business. This point is “business-critical” so I want to be certain I’ve driven the point into your thinking. Still, what exactly is wrong . . . ? Company A, as well as a minimum of 85+ % of business marketing media, speaks only from the perspective of the business not from the perspective of the customer they hope to attract to their business. Marketing Then vs. Today’s Marketing Message Tsunami Has this manner of marketing worked? Yes, it has—notice the past tense. Can it still work? Yes, but it is far less effective than it was in its “hey-day.” Consumers now are far more sophisticated. Back in the 1940s, for instance, catalogs, newspapers, flyers, magazines and radio delivered marketing messages were the norm. Some people were actually excited to see advertisements, since ads were the primary way to discover new possibilities in what was available. You just had to say how great your company was, what you had to offer, and how customers could get what you had. If your product/service was something the customer was looking for or wanted to have and could afford—done deal. While I wasn’t around in the 1940s, I have been around since the mid 1950s. No, I’m not going to tell you exactly how old I am; girls don’t do that. And the older we get, the less inclined we are to offer such ‘classified’ information. But why should you care abo