10 Simple Marketing Principles – No1 – Tell Everyone!
15 November 2011
Here’s a quick illustration.
Young children don’t know how to conceal information. (Bear with me, there is a point to this)
We learn to lie and deceive around the ages of 3 or 4. Before that, children assume that their thoughts are heard by everyone – so what’s the point in lying. If you have children between the ages of 2 and 5 try this…
Play the “guess which hand the penny is in” game. In other words, put a penny in your hand, then hide your hands behind your back, decide which hand to put the penny in and then hold out both hands and get your child to pick which hand has the penny in.
Then – and this is the important bit – get them to do the same for you. If your child hasn’t learnt to lie, then they’ll immediately open the hand with the penny in before you ask, because they assume you already know which hand they have hidden it in. If they have learnt to lie and conceal information, they will keep both hands closed and make you guess.
A quick warning – do not teach a child to conceal information!! It’ll mess with their development.
What’s the point to this little story?
Well, apart from being very interesting, business owners often assume that everyone already knows everything about their business – a bit like children assume we can hear their thoughts. Offers often aren’t prominent, services are hidden on a web page that few people go to and messages get lost in the fray.
So the lesson is… tell everyone! And tell them over and over in different ways. Don’t assume they’ve already seen it, or that they paid attention if they did!
Use email, newsletters, posters, social media, snail-mail and every way you can to remind people – and vary the wording. Repeating the same message over and over won’t get you the results you want, but talking about the same message with a slightly different slant will not only drive the point home, it will also attract people that weren’t captivated by the first message.
You can vary your messages by using questions, links and statements of all kinds. For instance:
> Find out more about how you can save / learn / get [your message here].
> We’re offering [your message here] this month…
Finding more of the right customers can be tricky – but can be easy when you know how. A bit like life, we have a habit of over complicating things, getting a little confused and losing our way. Over the next couple of weeks, the blog will cover 10 simple principles that we use when marketing and promoting a business.
So watch this space for a series of marketing tips and rules you can use yourself in all your campaigns.
Next installment – 10 Simple Marketing Principles – No2 – Know what you want.
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