Photo credit: Whitejacket
This is a fun piece on Marketing Profs and there are a couple of profound points contained within it. The fun and the challenge of today's marketing landscape is that there are dozens and dozens of messaging delivery options. The fun part is that there is a lot of room for creativity and innovation. The challenge, of course, is that breaking through the noise is not easy.
However, my take away from this piece was a reminder of what we all need to do if we expect our messaging to be relevant and to break through the clutter. Peeling back the layers of the glitz and glamour of technologically advanced delivery mechanisms, there are three retro examples within this piece that give us profound insights on the directions we should be taking.
1. Michelin Guide produced by the Michelin Tire Company. This guide was free until 1920 and is still in production today. It was/is a guide to assist with car maintenance and travel. The genius??? The more Michelin helped their customers to travel in their cars, the more tires they needed!
Take Away: Don't try to sell people more of your product, help them to need more of it.
2. In 1904 Jello-O's sales volume was so low that the brand was almost written off. As a last ditch effort Frank Woodward, the brand's owner, sent his sales force out to distribute free recipe books. By 1906, Jell-O's sales reached $1 million.
Take Away: People did not know how to use Jell-O. Women needed affordable desserts for their families, Jell-O gave them a solution. Do you customers understand where your solutions fit with their needs? Have you facilitated a true understanding of your solutions?
3. GI Joe only succeeded only because GI Joe told a story. Hasbro allowed young boys to get to know him, connect with him, respect him and ultimately love him (in a mini-man love kind of way).
Take Away: We should not spend our time in B2B marketing making up fanciful stories about our products and companies. But, human beings (and our customers are human) relate to stories. In fact, story telling and connecting with stories is a core part of our humanity. This is why well done case studies can have such high impact. I realize case studies, particularly in the pharmaceutical industry are difficult. There are other ways; however, to tell application stories that your customers will be able to connect with. The key is to focus on the needs of your customer, not the features of your products.
View the Slide Show: A Brief History of Content Marketing
This post first appeared on Pharmaceutical Industry B2B Marketing, please read the originial post: here
