There is No Big Easy When Marketing

The expression “think outside the box”, as overused as the phrase is, applies perfectly to mature product marketing. Within a sea of choices from which consumers may select, products and services must continually try new and exciting ways to capture attention.

Here are 4 tips to consider when marketing your mature product or service.

Give your customers hands-on access to marketing input on your product or service. 

In today’s market consumers crave more from marketing. Consumers are addicted to fun, swarmed with retail options and a bit spoiled from being pursued by companies trying to win their hard earned money. Businesses have to find a way to engage potential customers into having an emotional reaction to your product or service. Businesses have to allow consumers to shape your product/service into THEIR product/service...as terrifying as that sounds.

You can  spend endless hours on research and market studies. You can labor tirelessly over fonts, colors and marketing messages until they’re primped more than prom queens. However, in order for the public to connect with your product/service, you have to allow them to “make it their own”. Mary Brown sums it up best in her article entitled "The New Brandscape".

“Brands that create a process of discovery drive passion and ownership of the brand.” It is from this ownership that the ever-elusive purchase is born.

This ownership really means two things: first, the ability to customize a product to one’s vision of perfection; and second, the ability for consumers to “play” with the product and, ultimately, make it their friend.

For example, at NikeID, athletes (as well as the athletically un-inclined) can personalize their favorite sneakers until they have created the colorful kicks of their dreams. And if they are feeling social, they can email their newly minted creation to friends and family for feedback. Lots of companies make generic sneakers...but Nike knows that they can create a sneaker just for you. No amount of market research could have told the designers at Nike what color combination would tickle the fancy of Joe Smith living in Wherever, Illinois. So instead, they allow consumers their own choices.

As for an example of the latter, think about the recent string of creative, interactive Burger King ads. Recently, Burger King released a series of commercials showing “real life” scenarios in which hungry patrons were told their beloved Whopper sandwich was no longer on the menu. The commercials capture the patrons’ entertaining reactions.

In response to the commercial, a creative-minded Web user made his own video, entitled “Whopper Freakout in the Ghetto” and posted it to You Tube. The funny (yet adult content) video has been viewed by hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of people since it was posted. Despite the use of trademark images and phrases, Burger King never protested the video’s creation or popularity. Why? Because if folks are interested enough in your product to make a viral video spoof, then your brand has purchasing power.

Clearly all who read this are not operating on as large a scale as Nike and Burger King - however, there are lessons to be learned from their willingness to have “hands-on” consumers.  

Think 360. Market across multiple channels.

Stop for a moment and consider this: through what channels are customers exposed to your product or service - your brand? Then, stop and think about how many channels (ways to reach them) you can tap into beyond what you are currently doing.  Chances are your marketing efforts have been pretty unilateral. Maybe you are only investing in Web promotions, or perhaps you have poured your entire marketing budget into a radio sponsorship.

In order to be truly effective, you must expose potential customers to your products and services across a variety of channels. This means marketing from every angle. At some point in time, challenge yourself to write down all the marketing channels you can think of. Your Web site, advertising, television and radio might all seem standard. But have you thought about text messaging and mobile media? Have you thought about a blog or truly creative Internet promotions? Do you have an email database and a system for distributing messages on the Web to interested parties? Are you doing trade shows or using the media to spread the word?

If you have all of the above, you deserve a standing ovation. Many companies invest their time and money into one channel (usually paid advertising) without exploring other options. Now you should consider how these marketing channels interact with each other. Do your emails read well, not only on the monitor, but also on a handheld PDA device?  According to a recent study, 58% of adult Americans have used a cell phone or PDA to do at least one of ten mobile non-voice data activities daily, such as texting, emailing, taking a picture, looking for maps or directions, or recording a video.

Effective product or service marketing will take into consideration a range of marketing and promotional channels in order to differentiate the business, the product and/or the service  from competitors. As Mary Brown says in her article, “Brands can prepare by investing in creating a consistent and integrated customer experience across today’s’ communication channels.”

The main reason to chose a variety of channels or ways to reach potential customers is to reach more. And some channels logically are better than others because of who the target for the product/service is.

This choice is more of an art form than a science, but getting to the meat of it, and choosing the right channel, are key to success.

Get personal and people will “get” it.

Products and services must be emotionally accessible to their potential clients and customers. In order to make the transition from observer to purchaser people have to feel an emotional connection to your product or service. This means that you can’t hide behind jargon and slick marketing. If you are offering a service, you must introduce potential clients to WHO will be performing the service. With so many alternatives from which to choose - why should someone pick your product or service?

In his article entitled “The 4 Myths of Professional Service Marketing”, Michael W. McLaughlin firms it up in one simple sentence. “Clients buy services from people they believe in.” This means one simple thing: the persons behind the business will sell the service.

Any company can fill a Web site with hollow marketing messages and scripted language. Instead, offer a glimpse at who your company is. Focus on the clients’ problems, and how you can address those needs...and why your staff understands the issues at hand.

If you are selling a product, understand that the emotional need attached to the product will motivate a consumer to buy. Don’t beat consumers over the head with overwhelming technical specs and features. Instead, keep it simple...address the emotional need your product solves. Introduce customers to what the product will do for their lives; like the brilliant HP commercials that show you how celebrities such as Vera Wang or Gwen Stefani are connected to their HPs and then run the slogan “The Computer is Personal Again.” (Do a quick search online for Vera Wang HP to see.) Or take a look at the Mercedes Benz commercial where the attractive, yet ditzy, blonde walks up to desk in a library and orders a burger and fries with a slogan flashing “Beauty is nothing without brains. Mercedes.”

Neither one of these ads overwhelm with product specifications. They don’t attempt to teach their consumers why they are so much more technically advanced or special…instead, they make a simple, emotional parallel. They make their products personal.

Do something different to get their attention. Raise your marketing hand.

When you were a child at school and the teacher asked a question, you raised your hand to be called on. You knew you had an answer to her trigonometry question...so you got her attention by raising your hand. The same simple concept goes for product or service marketing. Do something that gets you attention.

Red Bull knows how to raise its hands very well. At RedBullcopilot.com, thrill seeking Web surfers can fly with national air champ Kirby Chambliss, race supermoto with racing legend Jeremy McGrath or propel downhill at 85 mph with ski champion Daron Rahlves. A trip down the mountain, 2153 vertical feet in 1:32 seconds, lets you to experience a race for yourself from five different camera angles. This is a perfect example of how a company can take an “everyday” product, and turn it into something attention grabbing.

Understandably, most businesses reading this will have nowhere near the budget to create a project as elaborate. But challenge yourself to find a way to make your product or service different and exciting to the public. Most of the time, a creative public relations campaign can have a similar effect on a smaller scale.  Sponsor an event, aligning your service or product with a local group or figurehead. For example, Alize Liquor created a public relations campaign around its new Red Passion hued cognac by initiating “Operation Redhead” and worked with red-headed celebrities and a hair dye company. Or the seafood restaurant in Las Vegas, McCormick and Schmicks, which celebrates Secretaries' Day by offering “Fish and Chips” and enlisting the help of national male revue, the Chippendales, to get attention for their moderately priced seafood.  Find a creative, catchy way to get the attention of your consumers!

If you want to breathe new life into a familiar service or product, and need a hand in building a good marketing strategy and implementation to make your efforts successful, feel free to call your communications partners at corecubed. Visit us online at www.corecubed.com, contact us at 1-800-370-6580, x1 or email us at info@corecubed.com. We are experts at strategically creating ongoing monthly communications tactics that reach desired audiences, reap results and help increase your business.

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