Key to Successful Marketing: Focus on Solving a Problem

As a Central Indiana communications and marketing firm, we find ourselves listening to numerous entrepreneurs and organizations who want to solve their lead generation, sales and even awareness challenges. Admittedly, there are times when we are mesmerized by a clients’ cool offerings or amazing organizations.  It’s easy to fall into the trap of spewing all the cool features, bells, whistles and innovative widgits that (wait for it) seamlessly provide a bullet-proof solution for the customer or client.

Don’t Fall Into the Marketing Jargon Trap

Seriously. Just say no to this ridiculous jargon … If you are trying to attract customers, you need to think like a customer. Better yet, ask your customers, “What do you need?” “Why do you choose us?” and for digital marketing, “If you were looking for us on line, what words would you search?”

A good sales person knows the secret: Find the pain point and tailor your sales pitch to solve that pain. Your marketing communications should follow suit. If a majority of your materials begin with, “Our company provides blah, blah, blah …” stop. As one of our wise branding gurus has said often, “This is not the Three Little Pigs. It is no time to tell the story of, ‘we, we, we’ all the way home.”

Effective Marketing Communications Isn’t All About You

Believe me when I say this: No one wants to hear you extol the virtues of your product. Customers and clients want to know how your product can help them solve a problem based on their needs. By and large, people think their needs are unique and therefore the solution needs to be unique. A communications message tailored to a unique need is much more effective than a blanket description of your company and product or service offerings. And, more importantly, this needs-based messaging begins building a relationship.

And Relationship is Key

Whether you are a manufacturer making widgets or a not-for-profit soothing the down-trodden, establishing a relationship through messaging is the first step in the sales cycle, in the donation process … in getting people to buy into whatever you are selling.

That said, you’ve got to deliver. You can have the most creative and insightful marketing team in the world hone your message in epic, artistic ways. You can spend millions of dollars on advertising and public relations. But in the end, if you don’t deliver, it’s all for naught.

Unless you’re The Music Man. He found the pain point for River City’s residents: They were worried about their kids. HE had a great solution: A band! The citizens believed and bought instruments and uniforms to be delivered on the Wells Fargo Wagon. He even convinced the doubting librarian. And, even after he couldn’t deliver the ordered items, his PROMISE of a brighter day kept him from being tarred and feathered. And everyone lived in Technicolor, happily ever after.

That doesn’t happen in 2017. In 140 characters, Professor Harold Hill would be a gonner. Or a politician. But probably not a successful entrepreneur or executive director trying to market goods and services. Shipoopi!

Need a team of professionals to help you identify your unique solutions and reach your target audiences? We’d love to chat with you about it!

Why Strategic Public Relations is Imperative to Your Business

We often talk about strategic public relations. It sounds impressive, but what is it, really? Strategic public relations is an approach grounded in research, followed by planning, implementation and evaluation. And it’s how we approach every client project. Allow me to explain why.=

I used to sit through client meetings where the ideas were coming forth like water out of a firehose.

I’d leave those meetings feeling like we’d really accomplished a lot, and I KNEW the client was going to LOVE this great idea!

Six months later, the client was asking, “Why aren’t we seeing more customers/clients/donors/volunteers/revenue?” Stutter, stutter, stutter. Throw out more great ideas, rinse and repeat … which became the communications version of Whack-a-Mole.

And then, I learned the right way to do things. <Enter sub-heading, Old Dog Learns New Tricks>

Admittedly, I came to this profession via journalism; certainly, I was hired because I could write well and navigate the media landscape, because I used to be “one of them.” And for a while, my sole purpose was to garner a “media hit.” That worked for a while … and for a couple of agencies. But then I started questioning myself and my “media hit” tactic. Because despite the media hit, the client was still asking that question about return on investment.

I got serious about my profession. I joined PRSA (Public Relations Society of America) and joined a study group to prepare for the APR exam which I subsequently passed (Read Four Reasons NOT to Hire an Accredited Public Relations Professional). And I realized everything I had been doing wrong. Every PR engagement should begin with research — a communications audit, finding out about their customers, their product, their competitors — followed by identifying measurable objectives (that include an identified increment within a certain time) on which one’s success can be based. The tactics — all those great ideas we used to throw around the table — should be developed solely to support the measurable objectives. Regularly evaluating the project against those objectives may result in a “tweaking” of the tactics … but it’s done proactively and not when the team is in the “hot seat.”

When I took this new-found information back to my then-employer, I was admonished that, “Clients won’t pay for research. They don’t want to spend that money on a strategic plan.”

Shortly thereafter, I found myself launching Pickett and Associates and developed a tagline, “Strategic Approach. Measurable Results.” And clients do spend money on research and a strategic plan. These days, everyone needs to validate their worth and justify return on investment.

It doesn’t work for everyone. Occasionally, we find our selves being put in the position of “an order taker” versus a strategic partner. It’s not our favorite thing. And, honestly, it’s silly to spend money outsourcing a strategic marketing team if you’re ignoring advice gained through research and marketing expertise. Those are difficult conversations to have with clients, but ones we have from time to time. It’s just part of doing business.

There’s no doubt that creativity and great ideas play a big part in public relations and marketing. But to ensure the bottom line results clients desire, the engagement must be approached in a strategic way. Is your communications team providing you with a strategic plan? If not, it may be time to sit down and have a chat.