The Dreaded ‘Loss for Words’

I talk a lot…. Which means it seems odd when I don’t have anything to say about marketing.

Giving this some thought, I realize that when someone does bad marketing it tends to spark an article about something. And here’s the thing, no really bad marketing crossed my path this week but neither did any really good marketing.

Let’s face it, I love stuff. When a week goes by where I am not prompted to open my wallet…well that’s kind of a bad thing.

I’m not living in a cave. I received lots of mail this week, lots of email, lots of pitches for…stuff. But nothing got me to even think about my wallet…

So, what are you doing to stand out?

I can tell you right off that if all your competitors are doing glossy brochures, yours isn’t going to stand out even if it’s got better pictures. Why? Because they all look the same to the consumer.

If everyone is using a blog or pod cast or video or whatever… yours probably won’t stand out. Sorry.

The point is that you cannot, you must not, do what everyone else is doing. You have to be different, you have to stand out. In any market, unless you are a market of one, you’ve got to find that one differentiating factor.

A lot of people tell me that their business has no differentiating factor or that they can’t find one. Or they tell me their competitors all do the same stuff the same way, they say the same stuff, they sell the same stuff, they charge the same….

If you can’t BE different, then DO something they aren’t doing.

But what?

Your marketing. I can guarantee you that your competitors aren’t as marketing savvy as you believe them to be. Not by a long shot!

In today’s market you cannot depend on only one or two or even three marketing mediums. You must use them all because your competition is not using them all.

What is popular is over-saturated, period.

But how?

Right now the biggest bang for your buck is being just a little different.

Snapple commercials are a good example. They are funny, witty, and just plain entertaining. They work because they are different from other similar product advertising.

Lots of other drinks can tout fresh ingredients but Snapple simply calls it all “good stuff” and in that has differentiated itself. Surely you don’t need to know all the different ingredients in your drink, you simply need to know that it’s, well, good stuff. Simple. It is not what the other guys are doing.

I know, I know, your business is different. You can’t possibly be silly or simplistic.

I would argue that you can be and it can be very, very successful.

An Example

When I started the Porsche service and repair business I, too, did what everyone else was doing. I put in an ad, said how fabulous we were. I put a pretty, shiny car in the ad. Looked at everyone else’s ad and made sure I was just as fabulous. I mean why wouldn’t someone choose me over the others, clearly I was fabulous.

But, then, I got my marketing education.

My target is over 40 year old men, driving Porsches. They are “pride of ownership” owners which means they’ve worked hard to have the car of their dreams.

Below is an example of a recent mailer. One-sided. Sent in a colored envelop to get attention. Hand-stamped, hand-labeled.

The response rate…now remember my target…30%. It kept me swamped for two months.

It was simple. It was fun and humorous. It was far from boring. Most importantly, it is different from what my competitors are doing, in fact they don’t even bother to mail to their customers. I could send just about anything and it would get noticed.

The Point

The big points… don’t assume that everyone is doing everything and don’t assume that it is their advantage. The other guys are likely using one or two marketing mediums. They probably are using them in the same way everyone else is using them. Which means it really doesn’t take much to stand out and be different.

Standing out and being different can be as simple as your marketing campaign. Yes, it takes a little time but clearly it’s not boring. I have a blast putting my mailers together and so should you. If you’re having a great time putting it together, your customers will sense that.

I promise if you can get a reaction, any reaction… I go for getting a smile… then you will get the customer, promise!

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