What are the golden rules of marketing you live by?
Do you live by any golden rules in your approach to marketing? Or is there anything that was a real epiphany for you?
Fiona I remember when I first learnt about the life-time value of a client. It was many years ago now, however it made a huge difference.
How about you;what's yours?
The key marketing rule I have to remind all my clients of is that nobody actually cares about them or their business. Consumers care even less about the clichéd marketing rhetoric they continuously spout and prospects have no time or interest in listening to your brand’s story. It is a harsh reality, but only when you appreciate that customers are only reliably interested in what you proposition has in it for them, marketing becomes far less challenging and significantly more effective!
Too true John. Brand story... pshaw! I have one basic mantra which exists not so much to remind myself, but certainly for clients new to systemised marketing: It's not about what YOU DO, it's about what THEY GET. I find it still needs telling for many businesses.
My biggest and hardest to follow rule it start small, validate ideas and experiment. All of these come from the Agile Marketing philosophy. Feeling creative and working on a huge project is something marketers really love, but it's not a sensible thing to do. I've talked more about this in an article on Agile Marketing
Communicating direct benefits rather than features or technical jargon is a powerful blanket rule for sales & marketing.
I have two pretty important ones:
- Customers Are Everything - without customers you are really just a hobby not a business. Listen to customer feedback and adapt your product, service and company if necessary.
- Be Different And Authentic - consumers are overloaded with "me too" companies that don't really offer anything different. You cannot and should not try to be everything to everyone. Take a specific stand and stay true to that vision in your products, services, marketing voice and customer interaction.
I totally agree with you, Jef. Picking your focus & making that what you’re really amazing at for your consumers is really the best way to go. Along with really listening to the feedback you get from those customers!
Fiona Anson
That the best marketing strategy comes down to great service and experience. You can advertise, promote all you like but the difference between great companies and mediocre ones is the experience the customer receives. Word of mouth.. cheapest and most effective form of marketing!