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| Shel Horowitz’s Clean and Green Marketing Tip, June 2019 |
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| This Month’s Tip: Have YOU “Kaizened” Your Positioning? |
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I listened to publicity guru Steve Harrison interview a mortgage-originator named Brian Sacks, who’s been fantastically successful at getting publicity, including 9 years with a regular spot on a network-affiliate TV station in his Baltimore market.
This gentleman is very aware of the power of the press, and was discussing the way it (and some other self-generated credentials) sets him apart from all the others in his niche. Pretty much alone, he has both customers and Realtors calling him, while his competitors are all out prospecting and trying to differentiate themselves. |
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But then he said something that really surprised me, because a simple little tweak would have been so much more powerful. He noted that all his other publicity and marketing reinforced his expertise by noting “As seen on” his local station.
Here’s what I would advise if he were my client: “Watch Brian Sacks discuss the home-buying process and answer your questions every Sunday morning at 10 a.m. on NBC’s WBAL-TV”
What does that simple tweak accomplish? It deepens his prospects’ perception that he’s the expert, at least three ways:
- Anyone can get on TV, once. And anyone can buy an ad and then brag about being on TV. He’s got a regular weekly show, so the station must think he’s the real deal.
- Instead of just bragging, he’s inviting his prime prospects to tune in for useful information.
- This isn’t just some 2 a.m. cable show. It’s the NBC network affiliate for Baltimore.
Not bad for tweaking one sentence. It’s an example of Kaizen, the Japanese concept of increasing profitability by making lots of small improvements. Imagine the combined impact of making half a dozen changes like that!
Could YOU rewrite one sentence to deepen your own positioning? Send before-and-after examples to me. If I get interesting responses, I’ll share them with my subscribers (with a link to your site, of course). And if you’d like help with this process, I’ll give you 15 minutes on the phone, gratis.
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| Friends/Colleagues Who Want to Help
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Discover why Chicken Soup’s Jack Canfield, futurist Seth Godin, and many others recommend Shel’s 10th book, Guerrilla Marketing to Heal the World (and download a free sampler). Autographed and inscribed copies available. |
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Turn Your Sustainability/CSR Report Into Powerful Marketing!
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| Another Recommended Book: DUH! Marketing |
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DUH! Marketing: 99 Monstrous Missteps You Can Use to Learn, Laugh, & Grow Your Business! By Liz Goodgold
I confess: I took this one off the shelf because I wanted a quick read to keep me entertained on a four-hour train ride. But I’m glad I did.
Using mostly big-company examples, Goodgold pairs a marketing blooper (“DUH!”) with a marketing success (“TA DA!”), half a page each—and extracts a marketing lesson from each pairing. I don’t always agree with her choices, but her lessons are generally spot-on. It’s fun to read and even entertainingly laid out.
At least five companies show up on both lists, sometimes as a pair, sometimes not. Kraft actually shows up three times, with two Duhs and one Ta Da (she doesn’t hyphenate Ta Da). I totally agree with her attack on its Grey Poupon brand’s entry into the generic-yellow-mustard category (p. 61). The whole point of Grey Poupon is to create space in mass-market channels for a gourmet brand.
But she also criticizes Kraft for a slogan, “we cut the cheese so you don’t have to,” saying this was seen in her high school as a reference to flatulence. Frankly, I’ve never heard that term used in that way. But if this is a regionalism and not something peculiar to her school (I have no idea where she grew up), then she’s right.
The Kudo for Kraft is for introducing American cheese singles made with low-fat milk (also p. 61). I agree that this is a good brand extension (but I still avoid American cheese, because I prefer my food to look and taste like food, not plastic—and Kraft’s Velveeta brand is the worst offender).
Some of my favorite lessons:
- ALWAYS Google a name (Zyclon shoes, p. 39)
- If you choose a name like 24-Hour Fitness, you’d darn well better be open 24 hours (p. 40)
- You can market new uses for an existing product or new products for existing behavior patterns—but if you try to market a new product to an audience that doesn’t exist yet, it’ll be tough going (Old Spice Cool Contact, p. 53)
- Make sure your packaging makes sense; if you sell bubble bath that looks like motor oil, some kid is going to put motor oil in the bathtub (NASCAR High Performance Bubble Bath, p. 60—and WHY would NASCAR extend its brand to bubble bath in the first place?)
- If you’re promoting a destination, run pictures of your own island and not your competitors (Bermuda ran ads with stock photos of Hawaii, p. 77)
- Do your research; it wouldn’t have taken much to know that Yom Kippur, a solemn fast day, is not a party holiday (Evite, p. 103)
Cleverness can work if it’s done right—such as Visa’s commercials showing how long it takes to approve a check by aging Charlie Sheen into his father Martin (p.145) and International Delight’s coffee creamer print ad asking “Why did we make our new bottle so easy to open and pour? Have you ever tried opening anything before you’ve had your first cup of coffee?” (p. 171)—but she also has plenty of examples of failed cleverness, something I railed against all the way back in my 1993 book, Marketing Without Megabucks (NOTE: DUH! Marketing was published in 2007, long before Charlie Sheen’s fall from grace)
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Accurate Writing & More
14 Barstow Lane
Hadley, MA 01035 USA
http://goingbeyondsustainability.com/contact/
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About Shel
How can you profit by putting the VALUE in your VALUES? Shel Horowitz shows how to MONETIZE your organization’s commitment to fixing problems like hunger, poverty, war, and catastrophic climate change. Shel consults individually and in groups, gives presentations, and writes books and articles including Guerrilla Marketing to Heal the World (endorsed by Jack Canfield, Seth Godin and others).
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