11.10.08
2 Keys to Modern Marketing: Part One
Posted in business ideas tagged advertising, blog, blogging, Charles Schwab,commercials, consumer, economy, GM, housing crisis, Mark Cuban, marketing,merchant advance, PR Campaigns at 3:45 am by imerchantadvance
This week I’ll be doing a two-part series of “2 Keys to Modern Marketing.” The first -Conversation.
The other morning I was watching cartoons with my daughter when a commercial came on advertising some toy. Half way through, my daughter looked at me and asked flatly, “Why are they telling us this?” I explained that they want to make it look nice so you’ll go out and buy it. She looked back at the TV and speaking to it, blurted out, “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, I get it. Now where’s my show?”
That about sums up how much we “enjoy” advertising. We pay more for TiVo so we can watch our favorite show without commercials and those of us who refuse to pay for it, instead employ the “mute” button. Consumers are tired of being talked at, they want a two-way conversation. Charles Schwab figured this out and advertises, rather smartly, “Talk to Chuck.” They know their investors or possible investors don’t want to hear Chuck preach and sound off on what he knows, they want to hear what you want - at least that’s how they advertise.
In light of all the abuse in the lending industry, Americans aren’t trusting in the big corporation anymore; they want a human touch, they want a human voice on the phone and they want honesty. They have always wanted this, but in big business greed, the genuine needs of the consumer were ignored and now Americans are fed up. Also, as further proof of the ineffectiveness of former tactics, those industries that preyed upon the trusting buyer are crumbling and have succumbed to their greed and manipulation.
Talk with your customers and better yet, listen. As I have mentioned many times, a dynamic mode of communicating these days is the blog. Everyone from the CEO of GM, to Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks to home-based business owners are blogging. It provides a two-lane road of communication that consumers are hungering for and the human touch that will convince them of the flesh and blood behind the product they seek. Ted Stearns
Expensive PR campaigns, and prime-time commercial slots are being seen more and more as a waste of time and money. Unless, you can reach the public in a creative way that sets you apart, you will not attain the results you are paying for.
No comments:
Post a Comment