Rocks in My Shoe
September 23rd, 2006 by Chief NutMarketing Sherpa recounts a challenge faced by Ariad Custom Communications. In a focus group consisting of their longest term marketing clients, they were asked why they so strongly suggest the use of custom email newsletters when they don’t use one themselves. Hmmmmm …. good question. Wisely, they agreed with the implication of the question and decided to create a newsletter for their clientele. Instead of jumping into the blindly, they thoroughly researched their competition and clearly defined the needs of their target audience.
A key point in their assessment:
“In the battle for reader eyeballs, every [marketing piece] should realize
they’re competing against every possible information source in every
media… Competition isn’t about your format or
business model; it’s about [the consumer's] time and attention.”
We would even take this observation a step further. The consumer’s time and attention is focused on the small, and sometimes fleeting, “needs” in their lives … and these needs may actually be temporary, passionate “wants”. For convertible sportscar salespeople: Today, the consumer will VERY likely not need custom alloy wheels, but they may feel they “need” to have the wind whipping through their hair.
For all six billion people on the planet, these ephemeral needs come and go through our daily lives like getting small rocks in your shoe during a hike. They wear on you to the point where you feel compelled to stop for a short break to take the rock out.
As business owners, it’s our job to figure out what is the proverbial “rock in the shoe” of our clients. The task is not to sell them a better pair of rock-resistant shoes or a new skin padding system! If you do THAT, you’re clearly not understanding the needs of the clients. Find a way to remove that rock and you’ll have a lifetime customer.
