I was at a small conference break-out session a little while back when a colleague and I started chatting. He works in a particular line of lighting at a major manufacturer. We were talking about the merits of that lighting versus other types. I commented that the better of the two options would be great for aging seniors or those with otherwise poor vision.
He gave me a quizzical look. I asked, "Do you advertise, promote, or generally market at all this line of lighting to that demographic?"
He responded, "No, not really. In the past, we generally create a product and essentially say to the market, 'Here's what the product is and here's what it does.'"
I made the suggestion that he might want to look into that specific market because I know a few people who would find this offering compelling. I suggested looking at the sizing, identifying a test market, conducting some interviews, and understanding why current offerings fail to satisfy purchasers now. He replied to me that his group has been looking for a better way to break into a health-care-related market.
This got me thinking ... How many companies push words on a paper and crank out brochures, yet call "marketing"? Marketing needs to be more about segmentation, sensing, sizing, understand pain points, and creating an attractive value proposition.
| You Simply Advertise and Promote if You … | You Market if You … |
| Use the same list as last time for your current e-mail blast. | Do some research online to add more people---relevant people---to your list so the message is better received. |
| Use the term e-mail blast without blinking. | Use e-mail as one of many channels to reach people, and know that every message is a spend of time on your readers’ behalf. |
| Rush to create one brochure so you can work on the next. | Re-read the content of your brochure and see if your audience will get value from it. |
| Copy text from your e-mail to start a LinkedIn discussion group because its “mostly the same idea, and you don’t have time to change it for each audience.” | You know that a Facebook fan page audience is different than a LinkedIn group and different than a Twitter audience, and you create text accordingly. |
| Hastily think that one message to 10,000 people is good since there’s a good chance you’ll catch somebody. | Would rather spend time crafting a more discrete message to a smaller group, knowing that your conversion rate will be much higher. |
| Like shotguns. | Like sniper rifles. |
How about you? In your marketing role, are you spending time to understand the market and create compelling offers?
