The best marketing lessons are from lunatics
Written by Tom Richard | | tom@tomrichard.comSome of the best marketers are those who are willing to be looked upon as lunatics. I learned this lesson more than a decade ago when walking the campus of The Ohio State University.
Equipped with nothing more than a Bible and a megaphone, the crazy man [that’s what we called him] always had at least a dozen people circled around him as he preached. Daily, he stood on an overturned bucket in the middle of the busiest section of campus.
Whether by intent or luck, that man did three things with his listeners that were essential to delivering his message:
1. He interrupted them.
2. He engaged them.
3. He educated them.
These are not the keys to some new type of magical marketing; they are simply the core elements behind all successful marketing.
You can apply this to your own business. Begin by interrupting the person receiving your marketing. To successfully interrupt someone, you must be able to break his or her normal routine. This can be done with countless numbers of devices, and you’re going to have to figure out which one works best for you, your message and your comfort level.
For some, the simple use of a medium that is nontraditional and eye opening does the trick quite nicely. For others, the use of abrupt humor with a clever twist breaks through the clutter and noise that fills the head of the person you are trying to reach. Our company promulgates the use of hand-addressed envelopes and highly personalized tweaks to the standard marketing medium inside the envelope.
Be choosy! If you cannot interrupt the recipient’s stream of mind, you are not going to have the opportunity to go any further in the process. Simply, save your postage for another client.
If, and only if, you are able to thoroughly interrupt your client’s train of thought, you have a narrow window of opportunity where you will meet your next challenge: engagement. Engagement can be defined simply as the ability to get somebody to stop, think and respond in terms of you.
Engaging your clients should not be confused with their education. When done properly it provides your clients with the mental bridge between getting their attention and educating them with a proper solution. Engagement happens when you are forced to stop and evaluate your situation in a way that prepares the client to want to be educated. Your client should be excited and thinking, “OK, you have my attention. What are you going to do with it?”
Then, and only then, when you are able to successfully interrupt the client’s normal stream of mind and properly engage them as a unique individual are you ready to educate them about your unique value proposition. Every business in the world has something that provides help, answers or solutions to the people they represent. This will be your opportunity to stand on your overturned bucket and shout through a megaphone about your own.
As you strive to communicate your unique value proposition, you should seek only a place of clean understanding, instead of focusing solely on trying to make a sale. Selling through effective education can be quite simple if you are properly communicating what you have to offer. If you were trying to sell the cure for cancer, you would need to accomplish only two things. You would need to be able to identify and reach those individuals who had a need for your cure and you would then need to be able to clearly communicate the fact that you have the cure for cancer.
As you evaluate your unique value proposition, you’ll find that you do have the cure for something. You’ll find that there are multitudes of individuals who want what you have, and you’ll find that you only need to master these basic marketing principles to succeed beyond your wildest dreams.
Tom Richard is a Toledo-based sales trainer, gives seminars, runs sales meetings and provides coaching for salespeople. For more information, visit www.TomRichard.com, call (419) 441-1005 or e-mail tom@tomrichard.com.
