PUT YOUR MARKETING TO THE TEST AND SEE HOW YOU’RE DOING
by John Graham
All marketers are liars. Because we’re all marketers of one thing or another, we’re all liars. To give proper credit, Seth Godin, the provocative business pundit, started it with his book, All Marketers are Liars. As the syllogism makes perfectly clear, he was 100% on the mark.
This isn’t an indictment of P&G, BofA, Chrysler, Goldman Sachs, McDonalds, or any other organization, big or small. There are probably more liars on LinkedIn, Facebook, and any of the other social media, where tens of millions of self-marketers have a feast day making claims that wouldn’t stand up before a sixth grade class.
As a recent USA Today noted, some 70% of self-marketers admit to doing some “fabricating” with their countless unsupportable claims, as they do their best to “sell” their product. This, of course, doesn’t take into account the desperately doctored job applications, resumes and college applications, but it does include at least a few U.S Presidents and a rather long list of Members of Congress.
Even though Godin was on to something significant, he changed the title (but not another word) of the latest edition of his book. It’s now, All Marketers Tell Stories. We’re all marketers and we tell some whoppers that make us feel better about ourselves, give us an advantage, or enhance our image.
At the same time, the Internet gives us opportunities ad nauseam to “tell stories.” However, this is neither a defect nor the downfall of truth telling. Happily, millions of people are constantly setting the records straight, which is why Wikipedia and tens of thousands of reviews work so well. Fraud detectors are always at work! The only ones who are deceived by making unsupported claims are those who make them.
Today, the Marlboro man would be sent packing and Virginia Slims have lost their femininity.
All of which is to say that no one marketing a product or service should deceive themselves into believing that what they’re doing is the exception to the rule. Marketing today must past the truth test. In fact, much of what we market is better, often far better. For some reason, many marketers think success depends on lying. A good example is the fast food industry, which seemed to think that consumers would ignore 1,200-calorie burgers forever.
So, here’s a four-question marketing test that provides a simple way to see if your marketing passes muster.
1. Why would customers want to buy what you’re selling?
This is a serious question, although many marketers might consider it totally irrelevant.
Does what you’re marketing solve perceived problems for customers or trumped up ones? Can they count on it to deliver on your promises?
“How does it help me?” is a significant question. Take the issue of national brands vs. store brands at the supermarket and other places. In the past, consumers opted for the “leading national brands,” until the recession hit. Suddenly, store brands were getting far more shelf space, as consumers gave serious attention to the cost question.
2. Are you telling the truth?
It might seem strange to align marketing with truth, because they appear to be such strange bedfellows. As easy as it is to be cynical, consider this. On the day that Steve Jobs announced the Apple iPad, before more than a handful of people had one in their hands, he boldly stated that it was “a truly magical and revolutionary product.” He then went on to say, “What this device does is extraordinary. It’s the best browsing experience you’ve ever had. It’s unbelievably great ... way better than a laptop. Way better than a Smartphone”.
Wow! So many over-the-top claims in so few words! However, they were not hyperbole in the case of Steve Jobs and the iPad. Anyone else who tried it would have failed. Jobs wasn’t laughed off the stage for one reason: he had a proven track record of delivering on his promises and telling the truth. Instead of boos, he garnered applause
The truth works. Unfortunately, most marketers haven’t learned this lesson.
3. Is your marketing message compelling enough to move prospects to action?
To put it another way, robust offers work, while wimpish ones don’t. A case study in the marketing publication BtoB, describes an AT&T campaign directed to a group of 75 top executives of leading hotels. Based on the J.D. Power and Associates finding that WiFi is the most valued amenity travelers want to know about before they check in. AT&T wanted to make sure the executives knew about the availability of WiFi.
Ironically, AT&T decided on a direct mail campaign, designed to get meetings with AT&T sales reps. Recognizing that high level executives are well insulated from invasive attempts, they took a “you’ve got to see this” approach. The first mailing was an attention-getting package with an actual Wi-Fi locator device inside, and this message: “Locating Wi-Fi at [name of hotel chain].” Sales reps made follow-up calls to verify that the package had arrived and to ask for a meeting.
The second mailing went to those who didn’t respond to the first. This was “a custom dimensional piece consisting of a cardboard mockup of a Notebook-like computer,” reported BtoB. Rather than a screen, it sported a video-in-print technology that played a two-minute video personalized for each hotel chain.
Next-day delivery upped the ante even more by requiring the signature of the recipient. Again, the sales team followed up, using several ways to contact the prospects. It was a powerful combined effort between marketing and sales.
Those who made a commitment to meet with the sales reps received a special thank- you, a real Notebook computer.
Rather than the traditional 2% response rate for direct mail, AT&T reached 9%, based on face-to-face sales meetings.
4. How do our products or services stand up to those of the competition?
The objective of marketing is not to outdo the competition, even though that’s quite common; rather, the goal is to out-think competitors. The tendency is to pile on the bells and whistles, even though, as we all know, no one has a clue how to use them and wouldn’t use them even if they knew how. How many people have mastered the common cable TV clicker? How many can use 10% of the capability of a basic digital camera? They call them “smart phones” because they’re clearly smarter than their/ users.
Whether less is more is debatable; however, many times “less best” meets the customer’s needs. After using a particular computer program for analyzing Workers Compensation data, Kevin Ring, the Lead Workers’ Comp Analyst at the Institute of WorkComp Professionals (Asheville, NC), wondered why so many of the Institute’s advisors weren’t using the software. For what they needed, it was too powerful and seemed somewhat daunting.
Ring then developed a new program, designed to give salespeople exactly what they wanted that’s easy to use, quicker and costs less. This offers a perfect example of how out- thinking the competition is a powerful marketing strategy.
Conclusion
Test your marketing with these four questions. If it passes, congratulations. However, if your marketing leaves something to be desired, now’s a good time to get to work.
In the end, we’re all marketers and, thus, all liars. At the same time, some of our stories have a clear ring of truth.