I don’t think there is any marketing slogan that irritates me more than this formula:

Think of X, think of me.

The concept is correct. Every company wants to be top-of-mind when it comes to a particular topic among a particular group. But to stake your claim to someone’s subconscious like this is crass and indecent.

The movie Inception discussed the difficulty of putting a thought deep into someone’s mind, which is the heart of what this formula is going for. Unless you are interested in taking the shortcut by infiltrating someone’s dreams, you are going to have to earn the right to be in their mind.

You have to put in the hard work. You have to show up consistently when everyone else goes away. You have to impress them over and over again. You have to demonstrate that you are trustworthy, that you are generous, that you aren’t just looking for a quick sale. You have to prove that you are on the customer’s side and that you have the same interests.

You don’t just get there by asking to be there.

The shamelessness of this formula reminds me of one of my child’s books where the sign outside a store says “Come in and Buy Stuff”. Nothing could be more ridiculous.

In an episode of Mad Men, a junior copywriter approaches her boss, Don Draper, with an idea for an ad featuring a beautiful woman. Draper rejects the idea, prompting the creator to say “Sex sells.”

Draper responds,

“Says who? Just so you know, the people who talk that way think that monkeys can do this. They take all this monkey crap and stick it in a briefcase, completely unaware that their success depends on something more than shoeshine. You are the product. You feeling something. That’s what sells. Not them. Not sex.”

Don’t be crass with your marketing. Be sincere. Create emotion and create a connection.

1. Be Different
2. Be Better

If there is no one else in your industry taking a particular approach to their media, you can distinguish yourself by being different. If someone is already doing what you want to do, you can do it better.

‘Better’ means you are improving on an existing model. ‘Different’ means you are creating a new model.

It’s your choice, but I’d take Sally Hogshead’s advice. “Different is better than better.” [Read more…]

The case study has been a key tool in the marketer’s box for decades. The goal is to show an example of what a company’s services are, highlighting the quality of work, the business impact, the ROI, etc.

However, very few people want to read your case study (including your entire internal team). There is a chance that someone who is on the verge of moving from the Evaluator ARC to the Buyer ARC might find it mildly helpful, but they would never call it interesting. In short, most case studies miserably fail at their intended goal.

Why? [Read more…]

As I meet with more and more clients, I am struck by how rarely a blog makes the most sense for their marketing.

Blogs used to be (and in some cases still are) synonymous with Content Marketing. Put up mildly useful information on your website and people will flock to it. That may have worked in the past, but it is quickly losing effectiveness. Why?

• When there is such a galaxy of text content out there, mediocre or even good content doesn’t grab people’s attention anymore.
• Content consumers are getting more realistic about how much text they can consume in a day or week. If your content isn’t good/useful enough to make it into their Top 5 text sources, you are on the chopping block.
• Content consumers are getting exposed to a wide variety of media formats (audio, video, courses, webinars, etc.), and their tastes are changing beyond just the text format.

[Read more…]