"After some research and customer interviews, Mark built a persuasive message around one of the most important advantages FotoMagico offers - creating great shows fast. I am very happy with the results."
Oliver Breidenbach
Director
Boinx
Software Ltd.
TechPromo, November 2007
Marketing Newsletter For Technology Promotion
Is Creative Marketing Dead?
What REALLY Gets Customers In A Buying Mood?
To an engineer and his manager, getting that product released to production is all-important. No sales to customers, no salary, right?
Whatever happened to neat new designs to solve application problems? No time, get it out yesterday. Or marketing content with something specific to say, NOT the image your market research consultant swore would sell your product?
Drive down any freeway, and you'll see the wrong kind of creative marketing. You may remember the billboard showing the curves of the young woman draped all over that new car. But what was the car's make and model, and what could it do for you? Those things weren't there, but wasn't the girl gorgeous?
Many consultants and marketing executives tell you it's their marketing that makes a prospect want your product. That's crap - most prospects in the market for big-ticket items are already interested in your product if it solves their problem. It's up to your marketing to convince them you're the most knowledgable supplier with the best product, the supplier who can inform and support them during the purchase process - and after it, too.
No one likes to be 'sold' to. Just think about how fast you hung up on the last telemarketer who got through at dinnertime.
If it even smells like a sales pitch - like that gorgeous woman draped over the shiny new car - you may look at it for half a second, but you'll ignore it.
On the other hand, if you get valuable information on how much that car can carry, the great mileage it gets, or how easy it is to park with its tight turning radius, you might pay more attention - if you're in the market for a car.
I recommend messages and create marketing collateral to educate prospects about new op amps or image display software, among other things. I target the client's audience of 'first influencers' - engineers designing in components for a backup power monitor in one case - and suggest a piece stating the problem and benefits of my client's solution. I make sure there's useful information about solving the problem that doesn't require the client's product. But I also position the client's product as the best solution.
Your audience needs your product - they're already looking for it.
So what happens when they read your article or white paper about how to solve their problem?
If the piece has something they can use, they see you as an expert. If the article outlines an application, including a schematic or technique or ingredient list, they look at you as a solution. That's when they recommend your product to their manager, one step closer to the executive with purchase authority.
The purchasing executive has more issues - product support, delivery, pricing, reliability of your manufacturing line. Return on investment with your product. The time it saves. How easy it is to design in and use. So you offer another piece aimed at the executive's concerns. Again, start with the problem, describe solutions answering the executive's business issues, and show your product as the best solution.
Creative marketing isn't really dead. It comes out of your research on audience needs before you even specify a product. Find the language of those needs, enter their internal conversation about solving the problem, and give them information they need. That kind of creativity will sell your product.
Mark Bohrer is a marketing consultant and technology writer based in the San Francisco Bay Area. His work has appeared in EDN, Portable Design, Electronic Design, and Elektronik i Norden. He's also written technical advertising for agencies and Fortune 500 companies. Mark is a 25-year veteran of Silicon Valley. Visit www.precision-copywriting.com to download his free report, Technical Articles For Leads And Sales: Nine Ingredients to Grab Your Customers.
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