I’m going to tell you a marketing pitch, and see if you think it makes sense.
“Take your product and walk up to the nearest house. Bang on the door and hope someone answers. If they do, ask them an obvious question, one that everyone would answer either positively or negatively, it really doesn’t matter which. Then tell them why their answer is wrong, and ask if they have a short amount of time to learn the better answer. Bring your product into their home, give a demonstration on the spot that shows why your product is superior and sell the product. Write up an order and go to the next house on the street. Repeat the process.”
If your marketing team suggested this as a sales and marketing process, I’m willing to bet you would have some forms to fill out, like termination papers, help wanted ads, etc.
For decades, this door-to-door pedaling was the marketing strategy of several industries. This sales style went out of fashion because there was no reason for the customer to have any interest in the sales pitch, unless they happen to be bored enough to listen. As a business marketing strategy, it is not a strong approach and doesn’t make a lot of sense.
Oddly today we see companies using this same hapless “bored enough to listen” strategy, simply wrapped in a shiny package of new technology. We see companies form Facebook pages, with no strategy to engage the customer. We see YouTube channels that simply run the same boring TV commercials that people fast forward through with their DVR boxes when the ad ran originally.
Advertising has two separate goals: One is brand messaging, and the other is a call to action. Brand messaging is to get your company name recognized by everyone in your market area. A call to action asks that the customer make a purchase. Certain marketing tactics do better at one goal of advertising than others.
Take a look at your current advertising. What is its goal is it clear and is it being achieved? Is it a call to action that people will want to listen to? Is it brand messaging that will stick in the customer’s mind? Or, are you just hoping that the customer is bored enough to pay attention to you?
