Before you spend any time or money on your marketing, you have to be aware of the most critical element that either makes your marketing effective or just blends in with all the other useless data dump.
We are in the Information Age, where the average person thinks 60,000 thoughts every day. 30,000 pieces of advertisement bombard our senses daily. Clients have less time, they are more frustrated and they expect more. Yet we give them the same as everyone else and we expect different results.
Your ads should be an education. Get your target market to see your company as superior to the rest. People intrinsically want to be lead but lead by experts.
Educate people to why and how things are done the way they are. And ultimately those reasons must translate into the benefits for the client; otherwise, it will simply be bits of trivia.
A prime example of using education to increase market shares is the Schlitz Beer campaign. The company went from 8th position to 1st within 6 months. Everyone else was claiming that their beer was pure. But what did that mean? Schlitz took it a step beyond and explained how they tested the ingredients, how they selected and processed them, and how each batch was quality tested. Suddenly the consumer was involved mentally with the making of the beer and that made it “their beer”.
The first person who tells the story on how and why they do something positions him or herself as the expert in the field and gains distinction in the marketplace from then on.
Instead of running ads shouting how good you are, try offering a booklet with practical advice and interesting information. For example, if you are in the mortgage industry, you could put together a list of “10 critical questions to ask before you purchase a home: a lifestyle checklist to determine the type of home that suits you”, now you have targeted people who are seriously interested in purchasing.
Increase the perceived value of your product through education. The more your clients understand how your product helps them or protects them the more they will want it. Remember, you are selling a lifestyle.
Educate educate educate educate…
Fred Sarkari
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