28 March 2008

Stuff marketing - Think credibility

So you are not getting the results you want from your marketing campaign.
  • You have profiled your perfect customer.
  • You have got your message out to your target market.
  • You have highlighted the benefits and given the features.
  • Everyone you show your advert to thinks it is fantastic.
And yet no-one is buying. At least not in viable numbers.

I've got a suggestion:
Stop thinking "marketing" and start thinking "credibility."

Despite your wonderful offering, you simply are not credible enough for people to buy from you.

This really struck home for me at a fairly tender age. I remember running around as a youngster looking for personal sponsors for my surfing. The target market was surf shops and surf related gear manufacturers.

So there I was running around with photos and goodness only knows what else, waving my hands as to what an exciting prospect I was and what a worthwhile investment I'd be until one wise bill said to me:
You've told me how good you are. When everybody else starts telling me how good you are I'll sponsor you.

Credibility. I had none.

I've seen lots of business owners over the years never quite get their marketing right.

I've been to marketing seminars, read books, listened to tapes, watched vidoes, read blogs and been to goodness only knows how many marketing websites - all punting all sorts of marketing mixes, messages, strategies and other variants on the theme of marketing.

Here are some of them:
  • You need repeated exposure before an advert works.
  • You need to call 7 times to get the sale.
  • Incorporating sex helps if you're selling to men.
  • Incorporating family helps in selling to women.
  • Be likeable. Smile and shake hands.
  • Be fascinated with them. Stop trying to be fascinating yourself.
  • Identify the need. Then introduce your solution.
  • And of course, if the need isn't in mind - create the need!!
Yeah. They all work. I've got no gripe there. And I believe you can spend days, weeks, even years practicing and experimenting for the penny to drop and get the concepts gelled in your head that will one day lead to your killer marketing strategy. But maybe here's a shortcut.

Stuff marketing - Think credibility.

What you need is to be credible. This is a contest for credibility.

It's all very well getting your message to places where it will be found by people who need your solution. But when they get there:
Your message needs to be credible. You need to be credible.

And if you aren't credible, you're going to need someone who is credible to deliver that message for you.

So maybe before you go spending good money chasing exposure, start thinking about what you can do to make sure your message is the most credible option for your consumer when it reaches him or her.

What can you do to improve your credibility?
It would be great to hear what you think about this.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very nice blog Dave. This is something I have been struggling with for a long time. I got my head around getting other credible people to promote my services and reward them for it and yet still I struggle. Your advice would be invaluable.

Anonymous said...

Dear Dave, I have been in technical marketing for the last ten years, and this is the first time that I have come across a sensible marketing strategy. People buy from people, and your attitude and service levels will get you the business, not to forget persistence.
Regards
Rudi