Business Thoughts, Rants and Observations, Stuff I Like

hope, low prices & marketing (part 1)

……………………. Hugh McLeod …………………..

Ok.

Working in the marketing business I often find myself in some heated debates about whether advertising & marketing is “selling” (or it is often stated “oh, so you are in sales”).

Here is the answer. It’s not sales. It may not even be selling (in the traditional sense).

Sure.

Ultimately marketing & advertising wants to “sell stuff” but the craft of communications itself is not about selling.

Or convincing.

Or persuading (in some weird and creepy way) someone to do something they don’t want to really do.

Is it about “persuading” in the sense I want someone to “choose me!” to be on their wallet team? Sure.

Is it about persuading someone through some trickery to buy or do something that is bad for them? Nope.

Because in the end It is really about attitudes (creating or aligning to a ‘truth’ – a real truth not a made up one) and behavior (understanding why someone does something they do and inserting a choice into their existing behavior … and sometimes modifying that behavior if you can truly offer something better for them as an alternative).

So marketing & advertising is really about informing so someone can make a choice – whatever is the best choice for them.

Therefore. Marketing & advertising is not in the selling business.

It is in the choice business.

And while choices have dollars & cents attached to them and features & benefits and all that truly functional crap … a person’s final choice preference is never any of those things. A choice may be made based on them (that truly functional crap) but typically it is only made that way for lack of an alternative. And that is why communicating “choice” is an art. Because communicating choice is about education and emotion and, well, hope.

Because the bottom line is that people want to make the choice that gives them the most hope.

Now.

That may sound hopelessly lofty but its not. In fact it is what marketing & advertsing & frankly just about any consumer business is all about.

We are in the hope business.

Hope of something (it doesn’t have to be some big audacious hope … sometimes it can just simply be some small glimmer of hope in an otherwise hopeless day).

Yes.

This is truth (and some businesses may cry & weep & gnash their teeth … yes, I just wanted to type gnash).

People don’t really want cheaper prices.

People don’t really want better technology.

People don’t really want faster answers.

People don’t really want more time.

People don’t cooler features or more flashing widgets.

People even don’t really want more money at the end of the month.

None of that really matters to customers.

They want hope.

They want to know that they are going to be ok.

And they want to know that it can get better for themselves.

In a world where natural disasters wipe away lives in a second and leaders make decisions that take billions of dollars from hard working saving & investing people the only thing people can truly hold onto is a belief of something better.

Yet.

In our ROI-driven marketing world we not only seem content to pretend that a “faster, cheaper, better” is what people want but we also relentlessly pursue ineffective marketing communicatiosn initiatives expounding upon a litany of usefless features and functional doo-dads.

And we are wrong. Dead wrong.

People want hope.

In a lot of ways ‘the people’ are no different than you & I (because oddly enough we are people also).

They want to be listened to.

They don’t want to be lied to.

They don’t want you to talk over them.

They want you to validate their concerns.

They want their questions answered.

They don’t want you to ignore them.

They want you to inspire them.

They don’t want a sales pitch.

They don’t want you to be annoying.

They don’t want to hear about you.

They do want a distraction from real life.

They don’t want to be pressured.

They want to know that you have problems too.

They want a consistent partner.

They don’t want you to fake it.

They want truth in answers (the first time & every time).

They don’t want you to tell them what they want to hear.

They want to feel like you care.

They want you to hear what they aren’t saying.

And most importantly …

They want more than what they have (not materialistically but “happinesswise”)

They want more than what they expect (not just functionally but in life)

They want something better (not just functionally but in life)

They want optimism (based on truth not blarney).

So.

Enough of that.

People want hope.

(that is the common denominator in all the things I just typed)

And if you aren’t providing that in your marketing you … will …. not … be … successful.

Sure.

You can buy some sales and a “consumer relationship” with lowest prices & coupons and cool features and some functional widgetry but those people aren’t buying “you” they are buying the ‘feature of the day.”

In my words? You have bought a date not a relationship.

And you have missed an opportunity to be a hero. Instead you are a salesman.

You have missed an opportunity to have offered,and given, hope.

C’mon. be honest with yourself as you read this.

Think of all the times that were hoping that someone really cared about how bad you hurt inside. Or recognized the pain.

So ii guess if you really feel like you have to ‘sell’ … then sell hope.

Because as Hugh Macleod drew in his cartoon at the beginning of this post … if you can sell hope you can get someone to buy anything.

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August 22, 2011 by Bruce

Written by Bruce

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hope, low prices & marketing (part 1)

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