Need Marketing Inspiration?

You may not realize it, but turning on the television, radio,
and Internet can teach you new marketing techniques and
strategies. Each day, companies are bombarding us with their
marketing messages. By the age of 65, the average American will
have viewed over 2 million television commercials. And that
doesn’t begin to take into consideration the ads we see in
newspapers, magazines, online, on billboards, or hear on the
radio.

Some companies choose to use catchy jingles and slogans so that
we constantly find ourselves humming along. Others tug at our
heartstrings in order to establish an emotional connection, and
some (purposely) annoy us. Here are a few quick lessons we can
learn from these companies:

Try to keep it simple. Nike says, “Just Do It”; McDonald’s
“loves to see you smile,” and Calgon can “take you away”.
Creating a simple, catchy, and easy to remember slogan can set
your product apart from the competition.

Capture your target market’s emotions and they’ll become loyal
customers. Back before people had unlimited long distance,
phone companies created commercials featuring a depressed older
lady who brightened up and became happy when her son called her
from across the country. Back then, long distance phone charges
were expensive and people were careful not to rack up a big bill.

The phone companies knew that people considered long distance a
luxury item. In order to get people to use it, they pulled at
their heartstrings and featured the lonely old woman. People
were moved by this ad and immediately thought of their own
mothers and how they could instantly brighten their lonely, old
mother’s day by calling her.

Savvy marketers know that causing a bit of an annoyance isn’t
always a bad thing. Take, for instance, the product Head On!
and their annoying commercials which featured people with
headaches, saying, “Head On” over and over again. The people
who saw the commercials may have been a bit annoyed, but they
remembered the product and some of them became customers.

Marketers are also discovering that moms are the ones that make
the purchasing decisions for their families. Major companies
are learning that if they want to sell more cars, more Florida
vacations, or more potato chips, they need to make their product
more appealing to moms.

These are just a few of the strategies that you can see on a
daily basis. The next time you need some marketing inspiration,
try turning on the television or picking up your favorite
magazine. You may even want to keep an idea file, full of ads
you have seen and particularly liked. The next time you are
trying to come up with a marketing campaign, look through your
idea folder and adapt one of your clippings to your own product
or service and see what happens.