Sometimes we get so caught up in trying to find the perfect message, the perfect promotion, or the perfect deal, that we completely lose sight of what’s really important to our customers: the benefit for them.
Take a step back today and think about why your customers buy from you, and why they may not. This isn’t about your product, it’s about what the customer gets when they purchase your product or service. Does it make them feel better? Make more money? Make their lives easier? Save them money or time?
I recently saw a great magazine ad from Coinstar that got me thinking about the basics of marketing again. The Coinstar logo wasn’t obviously apparent on the page, because it wasn’t centered on the service (coin counting and processing). It was centered on the items purchased with those coins that had previously been sitting in jars and under sofa cushions. There were images of great finds, from clothing to furniture to home decor, with summaries of where they were found, and in place of a dollar value was a value in coins; ie: two coffee cans of dimes and nickels.
The ad got the reader thinking first about these great finds, and how they could fit into their own home. Then came the message of using your spare change to pay for these unique items. In the reader’s mind, they are already thinking about how much spare change is laying around their own home, and how they could use it for a guilt-free shopping trip. And in the reader’s mind, Coinstar was the solution to make this trip possible.
So the next time you bring the team together to brainstorm ideas for making a campaign successful, go back to the basics and think about what customers would want from you. Then it’s easy to put the pieces together.
– Melissa
