🧮 Prove It Sells, First
🍯 Finding Words That Stick
🤖 AI Doesn’t BS
🧮 Prove It Sells, First
John Wanamaker famously said, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half.”
Marketing often resembles peewee hockey: a bunch of kids tripping over each other chasing the puck and no one takes a shot on net. No wonder Wanamaker’s quote resonates so much!
To gain surety that your marketing dollars will work, prove your brand messaging and value proposition sells first.
It may seem counterintuitive, but selling comes before marketing. If you can’t sell it to a customer directly, there’s no way your marketing will work.
Before running a marketing campaign, pitch 10 prospects with the messaging you intend to use. Document your results after each pitch. What questions did the customer ask? What resonated with them? What created dissonance or objections?
If you can work the kinks out of your brand messaging and value proposition, and really speak to your customers’ needs, you will dramatically improve the results of your marketing campaigns.
One Stat to Watch
700
Swedish Fintech, Klarna made headlines when it stated its AI Chatbot is doing the equivalent work of 700 full-time agents. 🤯 Customers are resolving issues in less than 2 minutes, compared to 11 minutes, with increasing customer satisfaction.
🍯 Finding Words That Stick
Memorable marketing is based on “concrete words.” These are words or phrases that stimulate visual images in your mind
Look at this copy by Hello Fresh, “Meal Kit Delivery Service. Farm-fresh, pre-cut ingredients delivered to your door.”
You can picture every word in your mind, which makes the brand incredibly sticky.
“Abstract words,” on the other hand, dilute the effectiveness of your marketing. Words like innovative, world-class, or artisanal sound good, but try to picture them in your mind. What do they look like?
Consider these three automotive slogans that are based on the word “innovation”:
- “A tradition of innovation.”
- “Driving American innovation.”
- “Innovation that excites.”
Do you know what brands each slogan is associated with? No? I’ll give you a hint. Firestone, Ford, and Nissan — in that order.
When you can’t picture a word in your mind it becomes wholly forgettable. To make your marketing sticky, replace your language with concrete words. Paint a picture in your customers’ minds. 🎨
🤖 AI Doesn’t BS
Almost twenty years ago, Seth Godin released his book, All Marketers Are Liars. It was a controversial title, but it spoke to a truth: marketing is a lot of bull💩.
I recently hired a marketing manager. As an experiment, I asked candidates technical questions that were outside their expertise. The surprise was not one of them said, “I don’t know” or “I’m not sure.” They did what marketers do and talked around the issue or tried to make connections or tell a story.
If you ask an AI a question it doesn’t know, it won’t guess. You will get a response like “I don’t know” or “I’m not sure.” If you press further, the AI might ask for more context or you can give it permission to make a hypothesis or an assertion.
As a brand, being confident in what you don’t know is a mark of trust. Honest and direct communication builds credibility.
It’s ok to say, “I don’t know” or “I’m not sure.”
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