Medios Marketing Blog

Go to Tom Fishburn.com for excellent marketing cartoons.

“What people want is to … “ If another pseudo marketing expert starts a sentence like that I am going to punch them. The most recent candidate for a clobbering was the new sales rep of a client. I had heard the story before from all the other reps I deal with at one time or another.

The problem with the sentence that starts with your declaration of what you know to be true is that it is exactly that. A declaration of what you know. We all tend to focus on our own frame of reference rather than facts at hand.

In this particular case the genius giving me his sage advice is adamant about which sports I should sponsor and how the kids eat up everything that these sports stars wear. The facts that he were ignorant of are;

• That the client does not view the particular brand as key to its strategy.
• The client has a limited budget
• The sports that he wants to see sponsored has little exposure to the key audience
• Sponsorship on its own is ineffective, you need back-up from social media, branding, events etc
• His knowledge of how the kids communicate is out of date
• The kids in question are more savvy then he gives them credit for
• Many of the brand’s competitors followed the same strategy with little success

Truth is few of us, experts included, know what people want. People themselves don’t know what they want. It is the nature of the zeitgeist. Viral and popular cannot be manufactured. It like the Beatles said, “Can’t buy me love.” Except in this case can’t buy me love for the brand.

Branding is the same. You have to ply your wares, present your offering and make sure there is something in it. Be clear and honest and then rely on those who have benefited from your product to tell their friends.

Of course you can’t just put it out there and hope someone does the work for you. You have to use the platforms, ask the market, punt when you can punt, be respectful when you can’t. You have to see the opportunities, add the value where possible.

It all comes back to the opening statement. To know what the market wants you have to ask them. Engage.

So pretty please with sugar on top, don’t say you know what the market wants.