Giving it away (The marketing priciple)
What Marketing sells?
As marketers we are always looking for ‘the angle’ that will increase sales and our bottom line, an increase in sales and then our bottom line, means the staff and shareholders are happier, the missus moans less, and for you, well you will probably live longer and happier.
How did we go from a simple marketing angle to your peace of mind? Well that’s precisely my message today.
Sell a dream not the product.
There is little magic in the world, miracles are few and far between, we all seem to live with our feet firmly on the ground and that’s why we all visit the cinema to escape for two hours. The film makers take us away to adventure land where we are all heroes and heroines. In the last century I could not remember many films where the guy got rich at the end, most movies ended with people getting married and finding love.
Money is so low on the list of peoples priorities that a company called non-marketing comedy duo, decided to stand in a park and give away cash, and the results were staggering, most people saw him as a ‘chugger’ (charity mugger) or there had to be some catch, even when he said there was none, here’s what happened:
Yet this experiment only goes to show money is not a deciding factor. Here in Bangkok Thailand in July 2013 I witnessed a young lady in a dress working for a well-known shampoo company give away free small bottles of shampoo in return for an email address, the premium for the free gift was well within the boundaries of what people thought was acceptable, and I watched here give away around 200 free samples in less than two hours at the main busiest train intersection called Asok.
When marketing your product or service, ask yourself ;
What’s the end result, what’s the end emotion?
If you sell houses you would not spend twenty minutes explaining how good the bricks are, you would get the potential buying family to sit at the table during sunset so they can feel the home! If you sell exhaust pipes you sell the feeling of engine throughput, speed and then the exhilaration of a smooth driving experience!
Go out now, and ask your employees to give you one word, an emotion, that describes your product or service; you may be very surprised how people see what it is you are providing.
Remember saving money or making money is very low on the list of what turns people on, sure we know it’s important, but even banks never sell a massive pile of money, they sell all the things you can do with the money. Insurance people don’t sell death (Well they do but they rarely wrap it so crudely) they sell peace of mind for you whilst you are alive, and that you family will be just fine if you fell under a steam roller tomorrow!
Find the feeling behind your product and try to stimulate emotion. When I was 16 and starting out in sales, in my local Kirby cleaners’ office, they had a fifteen foot banner on the wall that said:
NOTHING IS SOLD TILL YOU GET EXCITED!
Wise words indeed!
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