Ever wonder what your customers and prospects are thinking about right now? A perhaps painful reminder from the great Tom Fishburne…
Full post at “inside the mind of the consumer” and well worth the read…along with another version of this magnificent marketing cartoon.
Sadly, our prospects and even customers are most definitely NOT thinking about our product or service all the time. As Tom comments…
‘It’s common for marketers to exaggerate the importance of their brands in consumers’ lives. Brand positioning statements are often written as if consumers constantly think and obsess about the brand. Social media from brands can make it sound like every consumer is a cult follower.
In reality, even “brand loyalists” have complex lives completely separate from our brands. Brands can play important roles, but we should be careful not to overstate how much consumers give thought to our brands.’
Now, Tom is talking mainly about mainstream marketing and the land of big brands. But direct response marketers need to understand this as well.
Firstly, customers (and prospects) will buy or take action when it suits them…not us (frustrating though that may be). That’s why it’s essential that when they decide to take action…
…you are at least somewhere on their radar.
Hence the importance of regular communication in some form, for example with a newsletter. That regular contact has the additional benefit of making you better known and (hopefully) more liked and trusted. It boosts your authority.
Also in most cases, it is pointless simply “shouting louder” to try and get people’s attention. Unless you have an absolutely breathtaking, irresistible offer, then people will be too busy with everything else that’s going on in their life.
Think about your own experience. If you’re like me, you may well be on a whole series of lists related to both business and personal interests. Every single day I get many emails and most of them…are not opened! Even from people who I like a lot.
BUT….when I’m interested in a particular subject or working on a particular problem…
…then all of a sudden I’m avidly reading everything that I come across on the topic.
The other problem with “interruption marketing” (or shouting louder) is that even if you do manage to grab someone’s attention…
…it’s very likely that the individual is going to resent the intrusion.
So, to use Dan Kennedy’s terminology, far better to be a “welcome guest” rather than an “annoying pest” and engage your customer or prospect at the right time with an appropriate message or offer when they are looking for an answer to a problem.
That, in essence, is what direct response “magnetic marketing” is all about.