The secret to brave marketing
Ok - I knew you would. We are all naturally inquisitive beings, but none of us like being told what to do. It's a reverse and perverse piece of psychology that the more we're told to do something, the less inclined we are to do it.
We all like to have information - both in general and specifically about things that interest us and add value to our daily lives. However, everyone likes to obtain it in a different way - in our own time, at different levels of detail and through one of the myriad of channels now available to us.
All this has fragmented the traditional methods of marketing and changed the way a brand needs to be marketed, allowing it to thrive and not just survive in today's landscape.
And that's where being brave in marketing, and finding the remarkable in your business will make the difference.
Brave / breiv / (Adj) ready to face and endure danger or pain; showing courage
Of course, we would never advocate inflicting pain on clients! Our job is to identify, address and alleviate their pain. But to do that - they need to face it honestly and be courageous enough to follow an innovative strategy, one that will set them apart and change their relationship with customers.
Of course if you are early to market, then establishing a brand and building customer relationships is easier. But in a crowded 'me too' arena, you need to be remarkable to stand out.
Traditional marketing relied on mass information, delivered by mass media. Bigger spends enabled brands to shout louder at potential customers, telling them why product A was better than product B.
As I said at the beginning, no one wants to be told what to do. Today, customers build relationships with brands as much as brands invest in building relationships with customers. It's a dialogue, one which they also share across the web and social media channels.
Instead of delivering masses of information loudly, today it's about permissive engagement and relevance. It's quieter, it acknowledges choice and it's perceived as personal - it communicates.
And there is a big difference because information is about giving out, whereas communication is about getting through (Sydney J. Harris).
Of course, detailed information needs to be available at some point in the journey. But if there isn't something remarkable that engages the customer at the start, then it has no value. This is where brave marketing comes into play.
A brave strategy involves making choices and trade-offs - it's about making a deliberate decision to be different. Potentially a risk? Maybe. But as one of the world's youngest and most successful entrepreneurs once remarked,
'The biggest risk is not taking any risk... in a world that is changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks' - Mark Zuckerberg
If you would like to be braver and need a little more help in finding the remarkable in your business, why not get in touch for a chat? Or on the other hand, should we say don't bother to get in touch?
