Marketing Magic?

Do you believe in magic? Well, some people do, and they believe things like this when designing marketing pieces:

Put your phone number in italics.

All I have to do is put my phone number in italics and I’ll get 20% more business? Yep. Because, you see, italics convey a sense of urgency and action — it’s magic.

No it’s not. It’s nonsense. Advertising and other marketing communication tools, with or without italics, don’t sell anything. That’s not their job. Their job is to make people curious and give them enough information and inspiration to inquire. Get them to look a little closer, ask a question, go to the web site, reply to the email, pick up the phone, and agree to a conversation. Your marketing communications can bring your proverbial horse to water, but what if, when he gets there, the trough is crowded? What if the water tastes funny? You don’t shoot the wrangler. He did his job.

Your marketing communications can (and should) do three things. Selling is not one of them.

1. They can increase awareness and visibility. They can get the word out and can keep it out. They can get you on the radar screen of a prospect and can keep you there.
   
   
2. They can contribute to the creation and proliferation of the brand image of your association. Your marketing communications can reflect and establish an image that is uniquely yours.
   
   
3. They can generate response in the form of phone calls, web site visits, requests for information, and so on. Your ad, flier, email or other communication vehicle is not enough to close the sale, though. That’s the next step where you take off your “communicator” hat and put on your “closer” hat or deliver your prospect to the next step of the sales cycle. Rather, you should rely on your marketing communications to create curiosity, generate conversations, prompt questions, or pull in the foot traffic — at least that’s what they should be doing.

So, if marketing communications don’t sell, then how do you know they’re working? How do you justify your marketing dollars?

First, define your terms for success up front. That would be your ultimate goal, as in number of new members, sales, subscriptions, booths, or whatever you’re promoting. Then, you also track your key indicators of success along the way, as in phone calls, web site hits, and other benchmarks that would indicate that you’re on the way to your end goal.

Don’t wait until the end of the year to measure progress. Measure those key indicators of success daily, weekly, and monthly. If whatever you measure is not producing the results you want, it’s time for a mid-course correction. And remember, it might not be your marketing communications that need the correcting! It could be that there’s trouble at the trough, or on the web site, or with the response time it takes to follow up with a prospect, or any number of other stopgaps along the way to closing the deal.

If there is any magic to marketing it is in the mix. Let the magic start with your marketing communications, but make sure you are driving your prospects into capable hands that deliver on the message conveyed in the communications.

From The Membership Minute by NAHB's Membership Department. To subscribe, email membership@nahb.com with "sign me up!" in the subject line. [ return to top ]