Marketing Performance: The Best Ever Solution Ideas

Our office library is filled with marketing performance collateral — marketing presentations, advertising pieces, marketing brochures, swag items — that small businesses from around our two operating regions have sent to us.

Most of the copy, layouts, themes, titles, paper stock and binding are similar. The differences pretty much extend to color and brand logo.

We’ve also seen a lot of businesses somehow, miraculously, come up with the same marketing campaign, tagline or website copy as a competitor or competitors.

This copycat behavior is rampant in many small businesses. And it’s deeply illogical given the job marketing has to do: tell each company’s unique story.

The whole point of branding and marketing is to differentiate, not assimilate.

Our greatest discovery

We do competitive analyses for clients to illustrate the opportunities to stand out. We study websites, social channels, print ads, recruiting materials, PR campaigns and property marketing to understand what our client is up against.

So far this year, we’ve researched over 30 businesses of various sizes. The themes the majority of these business markets around are:

• We’re an XXX business.
• We’re ethical.
• We’re independent.
• We’re a franchise brand you know.
• We have the most business.
• We sell the most XXX
• We’re local.

The problem isn’t that these things aren’t important, basic as most may be. The problem is that too many businesses are circling the same messages.

And, to make matters worse, almost none of the companies swimming in this pool explain to the world why these things matter. Or how they differentiate.

Beyond a clone

One of the easiest ways to break free from this sameness is to ask yourself, “What can my company say that my competitors can’t say or won’t say”?

Then, from your audience’s point of view, ask yourself, “Why should I care”?

Imagine, for instance, that business said this:

We’re independent, not a national franchise. This means that we are more adaptable to local market conditions and can make quicker, more informed judgments about every transaction.

or

We are #1 in sales here. As a result, we have more insight to share with clients about why people choose us, why they sell, what they can afford, and what people are willing to spend.

Now we’re talking.

But just writing these words isn’t enough. To be effective, a business needs to build an experience and a story around them through design, content, and interactions that continuously shows people that these things are true.

Tell people what’s in it for them.

The way to win

The secret to success is to do the common thing uncommonly well.

-John D. Rockefeller

Suppose you’re in the market to hire the best digital marketing agency. Or perhaps your goal is to become the world’s best digital marketer. What are the attributes of digital marketing success? Would you be satisfied with doing the common thing uncommonly well as Rockefeller says?

After spending many decades developing marketing messages, advertising, and integrated digital marketing campaigns, there are attributes and skills of a great digital marketer that stand out to me. You can use them to help your self-development or as criteria to find your value proposition. Here are some differentiation ideas.

Don’t forget about visuals: Enhancing Graphical Content: My Favorite 8 Tools to Achieve

Curiosity

Great marketers are like six-year-olds; they always want to know why. Curiosity is the gateway to clarity. As Einstein said, “If you can’t explain it to a six-year-old, you don’t understand it yourself.“

Knows when to ask for help

A good marketer has two choices: struggle endlessly with a vexing problem or get help from a subject matter expert. The latter option improves speed and accuracy.

Has perspective

Great marketers don’t make mountains out of molehills. Those who continually get hung up on small matters of style or approach infuriate coworkers and bosses.

Knows when to skip the rules

Selectively breaking the rules is a sophisticated technique for capturing attention. Apple’s “Think Different” campaign succeeded in part by departing from the boring and pedestrian phrase, to think differently.

Anticipates reader questions and concerns

Because great marketers understand the business world, they can identify probable reactions from the target audience — and address them in the marketing strategy. Also, this knowledge enables them to discard messaging points that are not pertinent. An ounce of anticipation is worth a pound of verbosity.

Tells stories

Today’s content strategies have circled back to perhaps the oldest technique of all, storytelling. The ability to spin yarns is essential for grabbing and holding attention as well as influencing audiences.

Listens

Most great marketers I know are better at listening than talking — maybe because they are often introverts by nature. Listening is crucial to many aspects of business, including content creation, because it is the surest way to understand the needs of a company’s leadership and its customers.

Think logically

Most business writing is aimed at influencing action — influencing prospects to buy, customers to stay, investors to invest, etc. Since business decisions are made in part based on compelling arguments, marketers must be able to lay them out logically.

Influences with emotion

Because business decisions are also based on feelings, marketers must be able to provoke emotional responses in their messages. Warm prospects freeze when exposed to cold messages.

Is imaginative

Although in some business situations, imagination may be seen as a negative, employers should not come down too hard on marketers who appear to be daydreaming or throw out lots of ideas.

If you’ve been around for a century, that matters. Tell that story.

If you have the best service personnel in the market, that matters. Tell that story.

If you know things, others don’t because you have data they do not have, that matters. Tell that story.

If being part of a franchise gives you advantages others don’t have, that matters. Tell that story.

Mike Schoultz likes to write about topics that lead to small business success. He also likes to share his many business experiences. Find him on G+, Facebook, Twitter, Digital Spark Marketing, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.