In all of marketing, nothing will help you become a more powerful persuader than this…
When I say what it is, I’m sure you’re reaction would be… Just that?
Because this has been hiding in plain sight, all this while.
So I am not going to share it just like that, for the fear that by familiarity you’ll fail to appreciate it
Rather I am going to build up a case, to show you its importance.
What Marketing “Really” Is
When people hear marketing or advertising, they think all sorts of things.
Some think about their favorite TV commercial from when they were kids
Others will think about high-sounding digital marketing lingo, like – Click through rates, Return On Ad Spend, etc.
But really, marketing is simply the art of persuasion
Driving someone to take action, legally
I added legally there because there are several phony ways to get someone to take action
You could do that through deceitful practices, or under duress with a gun to the head
Marketing hopes to command action without any of those.
How Marketing Commands Action
The truth is… the only way to get someone to do something is to make them want to do it.
You can’t force a Camel to drink water even if you drag it to the river
It has to be thirsty or at least want to drink.
Most marketing today is like forcing a Camel to drink
Marketing shouldn’t tell people what to do expressly…
It should arouse in them the desire to want to do it.
It’s just like baiting a fish. You might use your favorite snacks to no avail
To catch the fish, you need to attach a bait it wants
The First Job In Marketing
If you can’t just tell people what you want them to do.
And your job is to make them want to do it, then your first job is to…
FIGURE OUT WHAT THEY WANT
Yes.
In fact, some will argue that it is the main job of marketing
You’ll only get someone to take action by talking about what it is they want
And showing them how what they want ties in with what you’re offering.
But how do you figure that out?
How To Find What People Want
Some people already know their customers or audience wants
For those of us not at that level of genius, we need to do some digging.
That’s because what people say they want is usually not what they really want
Take the case of an airline company for example;
Customers had bewailed them for many years about how little the legroom was on each flight
In response, the airline company decided to remove some seats to make more legroom;
But there was a little consequence…
They had to raise their prices slightly to accommodate the reduced seats.
You’d immediately think the customers were delighted and overjoyed that this airline now had bigger legroom
No.
They switched to alternative airlines with lower prices.
That tells you that people are not capable of fully understanding what they want.
This unfortunate airline, reverted back to old prices having learned the bitter lesson.
Lucky for you, you are learning it now.
You uncover what people want through…
Customer Research & Market Feedback
If I went to the river today with some McVites biscuit and returned frustrated with my venture having caught nothing…
I shouldn’t repeat the same the next day; except it was an empty pond.
It is the same with marketing.
While you need to research the customer’s wants and needs
Only the data from actual marketing can validate the understanding of what you think the market wants
In startup parlance, they call this product market fit.
It is the way you adjust your marketing message and product design to fit the needs of the market
The alternative, which is similar to forcing food down a baby’s throat is an abusive and very futile effort
Conclusion
Your marketing will be more productive if first, you know what people want
That should drive the overall strategy for your product designs, lead magnets, and offers
And the way you present it in a way that makes them want it.
To figure out what a market wants, don’t really on what the customers say, look at actual data to make data-driven decisions
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