Marketing with Integrity

Are you looking for the secret to advertising success?  Now, it is your lucky day. These “13 Keys to Marketing with Integrity” will give you the extra push (or edge) on your competition.  Okay all you left-brain thinkers out there, try these “right” creative concepts and see a change.

1. Think audiences not markets
What's your market? That is usually your first question.  Then, you define them such as “18-34-year-old, single male college graduates with a dog named Spot” or maybe “45-59-year-old married women who hate their husbands.”  Think audiences. Audiences need to be entertained, enlightened, and engaged; and if your advertising is not doing this, your desired goals will not be achieved. It is time to rethink how you're delivering your marketing message.

2. Customers are People
You spend so much time analyzing where you are going to spend your marketing/advertising dollars.  Think of all your potential customers looking at your ads – TV, newspaper, magazines, etc.  How many actually call you or come by your store? Stop treating potential customers as if they are already customers and start treating them like people. That is what they are. And, they all have wants, goals, desires, and money! And remember you can satisfy their wants, needs, and desires.

3. Think experiences not features
Bought any good features lately? Nobody buys features. People buy positive experiences. It could be soft fuzzy slippers or a new computer. People are paying for the experience of you.
Does your advertising offer an experience? Does it explain the experience your product or service delivers? If it doesn't, then you really haven't got anything anybody wants.

4. Emotions Create Memories
People buy for emotional reasons.  Try to explain the logic in the purchase of those leather pants you bought or the huge plasma TV you bought just to watch the Super Bowl? We all make purchases based on what we want. Then later we justify them with seemingly sensible rationalizations. So, appeal to the feel-good aspects of emotional advertising and selling. Human beings live in the past. Our plans for the future are based on experiences and memories. Think about your most prized possession.  Is the object really important? The significance behind the possession is attached to the memories, people, places, and events that shaped the experience.


Real marketing: creating a long-term relationship: is based on delivering memories and emotions. 


5. Tell a Story
Stories, everyone loves stories. Story has been a form of media since the beginning of time.  They were passed down from generations and important messages were delievered by word of mouth. 

Nothing informs, engages, and entertains like a good story: Sounds to me like one heck of a way to sell to an audience desperate for meaningful communication.

6. Bring in the Focus
There you go again, telling everyone who will listen all the wonderful things you and your company can do. Trouble is, telling them all those things just confuses them.

What is the product or service that is most important to your company, the one you are determined to sell to your audience? That's the one you want to talk about. That's the one you want to devote your marketing effort to promoting. That's the one you want people to think about when they hear your name or see your logo.


Focus your communication ,else your message will just be a forgettable, blur.


7. Think campaigns not ads
Isolated one-time advertisements are like one-night-stands: exciting for a while, but ultimately unfulfilling and devoid of meaning. Your audience is looking for marriage, not a short-term fling.
Your marketing has to woo your visitors with long-term campaigns that tell your story and deliver your focused message; audiences expect to be courted and counseled with meaningful communication. And that takes time and commitment. If you're spending money on just ads, you might as well be throwing that money down the drain. There is a better way. So if you're looking for a long-term relationship with your audience, think campaigns—not ads.



8. Think message not hype
What message are you delivering to your online visitors? Are you telling them you've got the best product, at the best price, with the best staff, and world-class customer service? Is that what you saying? Guess what? Nobody cares, because nobody believes you.

There is only one way to show people you're the best and that is to prove it; but here's the catch, you can't prove it until they become customers. Whoops. OK, so what's the solution? How about a real marketing message that speaks to what your audience really wants. It's not about you, it's about them.



9. Think branding not copyrights
Hey, I love the Beatles. I grew up with them, and I have all their records—yea, records, like vinyl, not CDs. And guess what, I've also got a Mac, in fact I've got a bunch of them, not to mention iPods and other assorted Apple gizmos and gadgets. And you know something? I've never once got John, Paul, George, or Ringo confused with Steve Jobs. Amazing!

Worry just a little less about all that small-print stuff and more on building a memorable brand that people will remember, and that nobody will mistake for some johnny-come-lately imposter.


10. Think positioning not slogan
It's funny how people have a position on almost everything: You name the issue and people will have a definite opinion on what they think, except when it comes to their businesses. Just because you have a cute slogan that you print under your logo doesn't mean you own a position in your audience's minds.
It seems businesses can't stand to make a definitive statement about who they are and what they do. Why is that? Afraid they'll lose a customer, I guess; but if people don't understand exactly what you do, and why they should be doing business with you, then they're never going to be customers anyway.
No company can be all things to all people, and companies that try... never go anywhere. Tell people who you are and what you do, and forget about all the other stuff; it just gets in the way.


11. Think identity not logos
Is your company the equivalent of the invisible man? You're on the Web, but nobody cares because you're not saying anything worth listening to; and if they do see you, you are instantly forgettable.
You've got to have an identity, a personality, an image—and there is no better way to create that identity than with a video of a real person delivering your marketing message in an entertaining, memorable manner.


12. Think entertainment not biz-speak
Speaking of entertaining... you cannot engage, enlighten, or entertain if everything you present sounds and looks like it came from some b-school textbook or one of those self-help courses on direct marketing guaranteed to make you a millionaire in only three weeks.
Every business has a story to tell, and it can be presented in a compelling way with a little imagination and creativity. And yes, even B2B businesses can rise above the mundane and deadly boring if they take the time and make the effort.


13. Think communication not copy
Last but not least, let's all remember that Web sites are about communication. If you've got nothing to say, nothing to offer, or are afraid to say what you can do for your audience, then how do you expect to be successful?

Filling your Web pages with keyword-dense prose and instantly forgettable sales copy is not going to win the day.

Whether you are presenting your case in text, audio, or video, it had better be interesting and enlightening—even text can be entertaining if written with style and attitude.

When Web sites fail, they fail because they do not communicate a realistic, believable, convincing marketing message.