Marketing

In A Glass Please

Garth Beyer

It’s not coincidence that wine tastes better in a wine glass. Not scientifically, of course.

Scientifically, the wine tastes the same in a wine glass as it does in a styrofoam cup.

The same goes for how you feel wearing a suit. When I put one on, I feel like I’m important, I feel like I can walk into a room and own it, I feel respected. Are we any different wearing a suit as we are wearing shorts and a sleeveless shirt, scientifically? I’m still me. You’re still you. Scientifically.

One more example,

Treat yourself to a cold can of bud light. Then treat yourself to a cold glass of bud light. Which tastes better?

We have these world views, these wonderful world views that in the most simplest form are summed up into that which we want to believe, is true.

We become more outgoing and astute when we put on a suit because that is what we believe a suit will do. The wine, the water, the beer, the tea, the coffee – tastes great in whatever glass we have it in because we believe that it will. So it goes…

The single best story punctures through the noise in two ways:

1) It parallels a worldview that we already hold.

2) It makes a promise that we will feel a certain way when we have or use the product.

Marketing, branding, advertising – whatever you want to label it – has one goal. To get people to attribute a feeling with a particular product or service. It’s damn difficult. That’s what makes marketing so valuable.

 

Stay Positive & In Marketing, Numbers Are Little, Worldviews Are Huge

The Worst Way To Get New Customers

Garth Beyer

is to tell people that they’ve been doing something wrong. Especially to tell them they’ve been doing it wrong all their life.

Doing It Wrong

Electric can openers don’t sell because their marketing team call people who use the hand-held can openers dumb.

Ipods don’t sell because they say people using Walkman’s don’t understand what it means to have music in their pocket.

Even pizzerias don’t get new people to try their pizza by advertising that people have been going to the wrong place.

If what we do, use or eat gets done what we need done, the how doesn’t matter and surely doesn’t make it wrong. Hell, some even take pride in their traditional ways.

Yet, over and over I see people advertising their product or service by announcing someone has been doing it wrong.

  • “You’ve been baking that cake all wrong! Read our step-by-step guide on how to bake that cake!”
  • “You’ve been doing it wrong all your life! Buy our ten-in-one tool!”
  • “Can’t sleep in hotels? You’ve been doing it all wrong!”

A lot of the products and services that use this marketing approach might be right, but saying someone is doing something wrong doesn’t scale.

What scales is telling a story, showing what the product or service does (letting the user choose if what they’ve been doing is actually “wrong”) and marketing the feeling that the user will have when they use the product or service. That(!) scales.

 

Stay Positive & Seriously, Marketers, You’ve Been Doing It All Wrong

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Reader By Demographic

Garth Beyer

Newsroom T.I.V

I’ve mentioned that every newsroom I’ve been in has a poster of a person who is their average reader. On the poster is the demographic of the person. “37-years-old, Sways Republican, has three kids, loves gardening.”

Writers will even remind each other to “write to Lisa” or “Chad,” or “Josephina.”

It’s a good start. But I have to agree with Seth Godin, that there are more important questions to be asking like,

  • What do they believe? (What’s their worldview?)
  • Who do they trust?
  • What are they afraid of and who do they love?
  • What are they seeking?
  • Who are their friends?
  • What do they talk about?

Bonus questions:

  • What legacy do they want to leave?
  • All views change over time, how will theirs?
  • Will you follow those changes?

 

Stay Positive & All In A Day’s Every Day’s Work

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Know When You Have

Garth Beyer

Every marketer, reporter and business person has a goal for those at the Pandorareceiving/purchasing end. Without a goal, it’s all just busy work. Yet, I see one big problem over and over again in their strategy to meet the goal: they don’t shut down their tactics to reach the goal once they reach it.

Pandora has a pop-up explaining that you can now use Pandora as your alarm clock. Who doesn’t love to wakeup to music they enjoy? The first few times I opened Pandora, I had to exit out of that same pop up before I could listen to music.

After the fourth time, I thought I would go ahead and use Pandora as my alarm. I didn’t really like my current alarm sound anyway. (This was, after all, Pandora’s goal.)

I set up the Pandora alarm and opened the Pandora app to listen to music again. Can you guess what happened? The pop up still came up advertising that I do what I have already done.

 

Stay Positive & Stop When You Reach Your Goal

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You’re Confused About Shotgun Marketing

Garth Beyer

I too thought shotgun marketing was a waste of time and an annoyance. The idea of reaching as many people as possible is ridiculous. The entire force of our economy right now is aimed at rifle marketing, targeted, niche, focused, small…

Everything is getting specialized, individualized and compartmentalized for like groups of people, tribes.

The rifle approach is extremely rewarding. Why bother trying to sell horror stories to those who hate them or would rather read a romantic novel. If you’re going to sell a horror story, you have the resources to find the perfect people to target – horror story readers.

We’ve shot ourselves in the foot if we really buy into all of this, though.

I have nothing to critique when it comes to rifle marketing – that’s spot on. However, the flood of criticism that shotgun marketing receives is uncalled for. Shotgun marketing isn’t used as a spray and pray approach. There’s mythological thinking behind the aim and the scope.

The other day I and a couple of others pitched to a small board an idea of creating an online resource the covers activities for kids in Madison. Our target audience? Parents with kids and nannies. Quite simple and forward, but the board responded with a reminder not to limit ourselves. There are many mentorship programs like Big Brothers Big Sisters that parents could enroll their kid(s) in and that nannies can volunteer with. Originally, this market was not in our strategy memo.

What are the two words that explain this decision? Shotgun marketing.

And if you didn’t know, shotguns have different chokes and barrel sizes. You still have to aim them. And as far as I can remember, I’ve never seen or read about anyone killing five birds with one shot. Shotgun marketing is a challenging strategy because of the stigma, but equally as rewarding as a rifle.

 

Stay Positive & Pew Pew Pew

Garth E. Beyer