Thank you in advance for reading the following article regarding a different
perspective on how to go about marketing your business. Please share your
thoughts with some comments at the end.
Marketing Reinvented – Electrifying Is The New Satisfying!
This is how we, marketers, usually think: “Find out what they want, give it
to them nicely wrapped and with a big shiny smile, and let the surveys show that
they are satisfied.” Good old Satisfying Marketing, right? Well, not any more.
Consistent data from all over the globe indicates that even the most
satisfied customers tend to keep an open mind towards other offers. We live in
the “post customer loyalty era” and guess what? Customers simply do not want to
be loyal any more. Forsaking all other options – is no longer an option. So yes,
it is important to keep them satisfied (otherwise they will be gone in a split
second) but do not expect them to be loyal.
So, what do you do? Get an
alternative thinking cap. Electrifying Marketing is the new marketing philosophy
I want to offer you. Its roots stem from the realization that marketing today is
no longer about satisfying unsatisfied needs. More often than not, it is about
re-satisfying already satisfied needs – with better, more exciting solutions.
The major idea is that you are not here to “please” anyone, but rather to tap on
your target consumers’ needs in a new and surprising way which is geared to
eventually become their future desires, while gaining a competitive advantage as
a result.
The next question you will probably ask is: how? Following you will
find an outline of the ten central principles of Electrifying Marketing, that
constitute different ways to implement this new marketing approach.
1. Do
Not Mess with Quality
First and foremost, you need a high quality product and
service. Nothing in the world will change this necessity. No marketing or
branding “hocus pocus” will cover for a poor product.
2. The Name of the Game
is – Escapism
Create a differentiated benefit that takes your consumers
beyond the borders and boundaries of their normal lives into a bigger-than-life
existence, a world of fantasy, magic, and delirium. It isn’t a coincidence that
two of the most successful literary works of the past few years were the Harry
Potter books and the Da Vinci Code.
3. Deliver a
Shiver
Deliver a strong sensual or emotional experience for your consumers,
which will tap powerfully into one or more of their senses, or will evoke a
strong emotional response, such as fear, thrill, excitement, ecstasy, surprise,
or any other powerful emotion.
A wonderful example is the “Tie Me Up, Tie Me
Down” S&M and bondage party that hurled a tsunami of press for Casio’s
then-new G-Shock watch, promising it a must-have status in the influential
fashion community of Manhattan. The New York Post awarded Casio the Marketer
Chutzpah of the Year Award for its audacity, and evidently this shiver has
managed to deliver 75 million media impressions for the brand, all released
during the first six months of its existence.
4. Brake, Shake and Shatter
Display a rule-shattering, convention-breaking, routine-shaking,
marketing-competitive behavior. There are several ways of doing this. You can be
any of the following:
o Expectation rockers – surprising
o
Provocative
o Rebellious, subversive
o Mad, wacky
o Unreasonable,
crazy
For example, the AxeFantasy promotional campaign in the UAE used
specially tailored jeans miniskirts to dress up mouse pads completely, in such a
way that in order to use the mouse, the user had to put his hand up the skirt
from its underside, simulating their wildest and sexiest dreams. Then they
placed this “creation” in Internet cafes. Not only did the effort drive an
unprecedented number of unique visitors to AxeFantasy’s website, generating
hundreds of thousands of page views during the first month of this campaign, but
also, it seems that most of the mouse pads were stolen from the cafes.
5.
Keep a Secret
Use a secretive or mysterious element such as a secret formula,
mystery people, something that nobody knows how it’s done… or reveal a secret.
Coca-Cola’s secret recipe is the classic.
More recently, “The Secret”
constitutes a great example. This book/movie/phenomenon was so successful
because it claims to have revealed an ancient forgotten secret to achieving
limitless wealth and success, now outed to the whole public.
6. Play Hard to
Get
Put deliberate and challenging limitations on availability or
accessibility of your product:
o A limited number: the “now-or-never” factor
(Zara)
o A limited time, for example a special summer edition, or event-tied
(Olympics products).
o The “don’t-call-us-we’ll-call-you” approach. Some
brands never give out their contact information. If you want to talk to them you
must first surrender your own! (The Centurion unlimited credit card by Amex)
7. Engage them in some activity
Trigger brand oriented involvement. Get
your consumers actively involved in some kind of activity, so that before they
realize it they’ll be engaged in some game or type of interactive cooperation,
dangling willingly on one of your “consumer fishing hooks”.
Take for example
Rethink Breast Cancer, the Canadian charity which came up with a new “Booby
Wall” campaign, to raise breast cancer awareness. Women can enter the Booby
Booth website, perform a self-exam and take a faceless photo of their breasts to
post in the site, along with comments or dedications to accompany their
contribution to the Booby Wall.
8. Play and Have Fun
Playfully incorporate
elements of fun and entertainment. When you do so, do not take yourself too
seriously, do not be heavy, and remember that, hey, this is only marketing after
all.
I love the Burger King candid camera campaign, which caught authentic
surprised and shocked reactions from people, when informed upon ordering that
the Whooper was no longer being served. Finally, the King himself comes to the
rescue with the desired whooper and everyone shares a laugh.
9. Be
Delightfully Devious
Play around with your consumers – mislead them in some
positive way (funny and inoffensive), manipulate them, play a joke on them, do
something which appears to be one thing at first, but turns out to be something
else.
For example, a billboard in LA and New York has gained a lot of
attention and buzz recently. The billboard reads: “Hi Steven, Do I have your
attention now? I know all about her, you dirty, sneaky, immoral, unfaithful,
poorly-endowed slime ball. Everything’s caught on tape. Your (soon-to-be-ex).
P.S. I paid for this billboard from OUR joint bank account.”
This billboard
is actually part of a mystery ad campaign for a new cable TV show,
and it’s delightfully playing with our naivete – and fully catching our
attention.
10. Give them Something to Talk About
Use a “viral” element: a
Cool, a Twist or a Wow!, giving your consumers conversation openers, scripts and
lingos – starring your brand.
For example I would like to refer you to the
new gun shaped fried-egg molds from Urban Trend. Although in this particular
case there might be a hidden cholesterol joke, it seems that gun shaped objects
are the new “now”, and a great conversation booster.
Your third question,
I’m guessing, will be: When? My answer is: definitely now. Satisfying marketing
is no longer a charged enough course of action to bring you the results you need
in order to gain market leadership. From now on don’t satisfy your customers -
electrify them – results will follow!
About the Author:
Dr. Dan Herman, a globally renowned strategy consultant, an author and a
lecturer, is the author of “Outsmart the MBA Clones: The Alternative Guide to
Competitive Strategy, Marketing, and Branding” ( http://www.outsmart-mba-clones.com ).
Technorati Tags: Marketing, Management, Branding, Strategy, Innovation, Herman, Differentiation
New Twist on Marketing Standards
Marketing Reinvented – Electrifying Is The New Satisfying!
This is how we, marketers, usually think: “Find out what they want, give it
to them nicely wrapped and with a big shiny smile, and let the surveys show that
they are satisfied.” Good old Satisfying Marketing, right? Well, not any more.
Consistent data from all over the globe indicates that even the most
satisfied customers tend to keep an open mind towards other offers. We live in
the “post customer loyalty era” and guess what? Customers simply do not want to
be loyal any more. Forsaking all other options – is no longer an option. So yes,
it is important to keep them satisfied (otherwise they will be gone in a split
second) but do not expect them to be loyal.
So, what do you do? Get an
alternative thinking cap. Electrifying Marketing is the new marketing philosophy
I want to offer you. Its roots stem from the realization that marketing today is
no longer about satisfying unsatisfied needs. More often than not, it is about
re-satisfying already satisfied needs – with better, more exciting solutions.
The major idea is that you are not here to “please” anyone, but rather to tap on
your target consumers’ needs in a new and surprising way which is geared to
eventually become their future desires, while gaining a competitive advantage as
a result.
The next question you will probably ask is: how? Following you will
find an outline of the ten central principles of Electrifying Marketing, that
constitute different ways to implement this new marketing approach.
1. Do
Not Mess with Quality
First and foremost, you need a high quality product and
service. Nothing in the world will change this necessity. No marketing or
branding “hocus pocus” will cover for a poor product.
2. The Name of the Game
is – Escapism
Create a differentiated benefit that takes your consumers
beyond the borders and boundaries of their normal lives into a bigger-than-life
existence, a world of fantasy, magic, and delirium. It isn’t a coincidence that
two of the most successful literary works of the past few years were the Harry
Potter books and the Da Vinci Code.
3. Deliver a
Shiver
Deliver a strong sensual or emotional experience for your consumers,
which will tap powerfully into one or more of their senses, or will evoke a
strong emotional response, such as fear, thrill, excitement, ecstasy, surprise,
or any other powerful emotion.
A wonderful example is the “Tie Me Up, Tie Me
Down” S&M and bondage party that hurled a tsunami of press for Casio’s
then-new G-Shock watch, promising it a must-have status in the influential
fashion community of Manhattan. The New York Post awarded Casio the Marketer
Chutzpah of the Year Award for its audacity, and evidently this shiver has
managed to deliver 75 million media impressions for the brand, all released
during the first six months of its existence.
4. Brake, Shake and Shatter
Display a rule-shattering, convention-breaking, routine-shaking,
marketing-competitive behavior. There are several ways of doing this. You can be
any of the following:
o Expectation rockers – surprising
o
Provocative
o Rebellious, subversive
o Mad, wacky
o Unreasonable,
crazy
For example, the AxeFantasy promotional campaign in the UAE used
specially tailored jeans miniskirts to dress up mouse pads completely, in such a
way that in order to use the mouse, the user had to put his hand up the skirt
from its underside, simulating their wildest and sexiest dreams. Then they
placed this “creation” in Internet cafes. Not only did the effort drive an
unprecedented number of unique visitors to AxeFantasy’s website, generating
hundreds of thousands of page views during the first month of this campaign, but
also, it seems that most of the mouse pads were stolen from the cafes.
5.
Keep a Secret
Use a secretive or mysterious element such as a secret formula,
mystery people, something that nobody knows how it’s done… or reveal a secret.
Coca-Cola’s secret recipe is the classic.
More recently, “The Secret”
constitutes a great example. This book/movie/phenomenon was so successful
because it claims to have revealed an ancient forgotten secret to achieving
limitless wealth and success, now outed to the whole public.
6. Play Hard to
Get
Put deliberate and challenging limitations on availability or
accessibility of your product:
o A limited number: the “now-or-never” factor
(Zara)
o A limited time, for example a special summer edition, or event-tied
(Olympics products).
o The “don’t-call-us-we’ll-call-you” approach. Some
brands never give out their contact information. If you want to talk to them you
must first surrender your own! (The Centurion unlimited credit card by Amex)
7. Engage them in some activity
Trigger brand oriented involvement. Get
your consumers actively involved in some kind of activity, so that before they
realize it they’ll be engaged in some game or type of interactive cooperation,
dangling willingly on one of your “consumer fishing hooks”.
Take for example
Rethink Breast Cancer, the Canadian charity which came up with a new “Booby
Wall” campaign, to raise breast cancer awareness. Women can enter the Booby
Booth website, perform a self-exam and take a faceless photo of their breasts to
post in the site, along with comments or dedications to accompany their
contribution to the Booby Wall.
8. Play and Have Fun
Playfully incorporate
elements of fun and entertainment. When you do so, do not take yourself too
seriously, do not be heavy, and remember that, hey, this is only marketing after
all.
I love the Burger King candid camera campaign, which caught authentic
surprised and shocked reactions from people, when informed upon ordering that
the Whooper was no longer being served. Finally, the King himself comes to the
rescue with the desired whooper and everyone shares a laugh.
9. Be
Delightfully Devious
Play around with your consumers – mislead them in some
positive way (funny and inoffensive), manipulate them, play a joke on them, do
something which appears to be one thing at first, but turns out to be something
else.
For example, a billboard in LA and New York has gained a lot of
attention and buzz recently. The billboard reads: “Hi Steven, Do I have your
attention now? I know all about her, you dirty, sneaky, immoral, unfaithful,
poorly-endowed slime ball. Everything’s caught on tape. Your (soon-to-be-ex).
P.S. I paid for this billboard from OUR joint bank account.”
This billboard
is actually part of a mystery ad campaign for a new cable TV show,
and it’s delightfully playing with our naivete – and fully catching our
attention.
10. Give them Something to Talk About
Use a “viral” element: a
Cool, a Twist or a Wow!, giving your consumers conversation openers, scripts and
lingos – starring your brand.
For example I would like to refer you to the
new gun shaped fried-egg molds from Urban Trend. Although in this particular
case there might be a hidden cholesterol joke, it seems that gun shaped objects
are the new “now”, and a great conversation booster.
Your third question,
I’m guessing, will be: When? My answer is: definitely now. Satisfying marketing
is no longer a charged enough course of action to bring you the results you need
in order to gain market leadership. From now on don’t satisfy your customers -
electrify them – results will follow!
About the Author:
Dr. Dan Herman, a globally renowned strategy consultant, an author and a
lecturer, is the author of “Outsmart the MBA Clones: The Alternative Guide to
Competitive Strategy, Marketing, and Branding” ( http://www.outsmart-mba-clones.com ).
Technorati Tags: Marketing, Management, Branding, Strategy, Innovation, Herman, Differentiation
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