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Design Your Marketing Like Your Product
Tom Asacker
Peter Drucker once said that business has only two basic functions: marketing and innovation.
I've spent the past twenty-five years living, breathing and dissecting the art of marketing. It's an extremely complex and exhilarating field. And as any business executive will tell you, it's getting a hell of a lot more exciting every day. I've also been lucky enough to spend the past five years practicing and studying the art of innovation. A very similar discipline in that it's an extremely crowded arena which requires an intense focus on meeting the needs of your audience better than your competition in order to have any chance of being successful.
Common sense, right? So, why are the philosophies and fundamental business approaches to marketing and innovation so diametrically opposed? Here1s an example of what I mean. Recently, I met with an entrepreneur to discuss his marketing strategy for a new product launch. This insightful business owner has developed wonderfully innovative products for people with long-term disabilities. How do I know they're innovative? Because they obviously are unique and useful devices, which improve people's quality-of-life (my personal definition of innovative product). During our meeting, the entrepreneur passionately described the various human factor considerations designed into his products. From ease of use and comfort, to the choice of color and durability of materials, it became obvious to me that his audience (potential users) was first and foremost in his mind. He had done an outstanding design job!
Then, he handed me his product brochure. What does the conventional product-oriented marketing wisdom teach us to focus on? What was his brochure oozing with? Features and benefits, of course. The completely rational copy highlighted all of the product1s differences from his competitors1 products. Differences that he was justifiably very proud of.
So, after discussing these differences, we concluded that any logical person would choose his product over the competition in a nanosecond. He only had one little problem: finding logical people.
Isn1t it strange? He tried to design his products to excite his audience, to prevent human error, to save his customers time and money, and to enhance their experience with them. And he did all this while recognizing that people are not logical creatures. But, he took the exact opposite approach when designing his marketing. Instead of trying to prevent human error, he filled his marketing with confusing data and meaningless "chest-thumping" superlatives. Rather than attempting to save his customers time and money, he'll waste it by inundating them with redundant information, sales calls, junk snail and e-mail, etc. And instead of trying to enhance his customers' experiences with his marketing, he1ll probably use his cleverness and either try to impress them with eye-popping web sites and fancy corporate brochures, or try to make his customers like him by telling them all about what makes his company so special.
Here's something you may have a tough time swallowing. He did. IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT CUSTOMERS THINK ABOUT YOU. That1s right! What matters is how they feel about themselves and their experience in your presence.
Close your eyes and think about what it truly feels like to be a consumer today and you1ll discover exactly what your customers need from your marketing to feel good about themselves. They want to be treated as individuals. They want personal control, and they want to be recognized for their contributions. They want you to respect their time and keep things as simple as possible. They want you to speak only in terms of what1s relevant to them (and please don't bore them). And they want to feel important and appreciated.
But most of all, they want you to be human, which to them means genuine, consistent and caring. So remember, your customers are not creatures of logic. Start designing your marketing as you do your wonderfully innovative products by focusing on the human factors that will excite them and truly improve their quality of life. Effective marketing will make them feel good about themselves and like themselves when they interact with you.
For more information: Tom Asacker, founder of Humanfactor Marketing, (603) 629-9474 or e-mail to tom2@hfactor.com.