As a marketer, it’s easy to get caught up in the seemingly endless methods you have at your disposal to promote your brand.
But at the end of the day, your marketing will always compete with the noise of other marketing.
If you read our Vaseline and Watermelons post, you already know about the dangers of overwhelming your audience with too much information.
This is especially true when that information exists in a place with tons of competing information.
It’s one of the reasons brands go to great lengths to create over-the-top, highly-memorable Super Bowl commercials.
When the other messages are so dang interesting, yours needs to be even MORE interesting, right?
This creates a dilemma, as there’s only so much money and resources you can devote to being “the most memorable.” The biggest stages are usually only available to the biggest brands.
In a perfect world, we’d snap our fingers, silence the noise of our competitors, and capture the attention of a truly attentive audience.
Unfortunately, this isn’t possible on the internet, on TV, or on store shelves.
Meaningful growth happens at the dinner table
Imagine you’re sitting around the table at Thanksgiving dinner, enjoying a cordial meal with loved ones.
The TV is off.
Your nephew is looking at his phone, but most everyone else is dialed into the conversation.
Your aunt (the one you like) starts talking about the fitness app that’s helped her lose 20 pounds over the past year.
Everyone is nodding their heads, congratulating her on her newfound fitness. She’s beaming.
There are no other brands in-focus, no TV noise, no blinking ads in a website sidebar.
Just real human connection over a brand that helped a loved one achieve a transformation.
Everyone at that table who also wants to get in better shape will Google this app later (or maybe even right now). Some will tell other friends, family, and co-workers.
The app has created an advocate in your aunt, and her words matter more than any amount of marketing.
So how does your brand become the topic of dinner table conversation?
The most important thing you can do is make good on your brand’s promises.
People are jaded by fresh paint and slick talk – they’re hungry for products and services that truly deliver what they say they will.
If your brand is struggling to make good on its promises, then you might want to reconsider how you’re positioning it before completely reinventing it, or closing down shop.
If your brand consistently blows people out of the water but doesn’t seem to find its way into conversations, then it might be time to look at your message and marketing.
You need to make it easy for the word to spread through conversation.
Because making conversation can be hard…
Don’t make it harder by asking people to repeat unclear, overcomplicated messages.
Has someone recommended a product or service to you recently that you ended up loving?
What was it, and how did they describe it?
I’d love it if you let me know.
Happy Thanksgiving! 🦃
-Nick
