PRINT | "Sell A Hole, Not A Drill"
Though this is a simple concept to grasp, implementation can often be complex. Of course you can think of this concept in terms of contrast–a customer-centric approach vs. a product-centric one. When you put the customer first, you need to listen carefully to their needs, both met and unmet. This approach can lead to a jobs-to-be-done approach or non-destructive value creation. The way I expressed this basic idea was to build the brand around lifestyle and not products. Emotion is the key and connecting to your customer at the most fundamental level is what I wanted to do. I wanted to provide real value. So the first brand print campaign, international in scope, didn’t attempt to sell (let alone) promote our products. Instead, I wanted to "inspire" and "motivate" (two of the four cornerstones of the brand, "The 4 Pillars").
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Regardless of the approach, at the core of my thinking was the belief that, when it comes to creating real stickiness with customers, emotions will always trump reason. As I looked over the competitive landscape in our industry, I saw the reliance on words–overhyped promises by companies that aimed to convince minds. I saw an opportunity to cut through the noise (with far fewer resources), and reach consumers in a different way. Words were important, but so too were images, like the one below. All I had to do was figure out how to bring an image to life using words to show, not tell (a basic idea I learned in my intro to creative writing class as an undergrad).
I'm not a photographer, so I knew I needed to craft the words. One challenge was writing with an authentic voice–there are many ways to convey mood, personality and tone. Because I wasn't from the world I was writing about, because the idiom was foreign to me, long before I began writing, I spent many hours talking to certain people and listening to
accents, diction and structure. Online, I read everything I could get my hands on. At first I felt like a
fish out of water, but in no time, I learned, adapted, and got the hang
of things. The entire process was a great learning experience.
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On Writing
Writing is a skill anyone can learn. Many people write well in a technical sense. These writers can produce copy that is clear and easy to understand. When writing in a marketing capacity however, there's writing and then there's listening. Before you type that first letter or open up to a blank page, you need to understand who you are writing for–and you can't do that unless you "listen" to their needs, understand how they read, and get a sense for how they talk. In simple terms, it's really a matter of perspective-taking. Can you put yourself in someone else's shoes? Can you see the world from their vantage point? If so, then you can deliver the right content in the right voice. You don't need an MFA in Creative Writing to understand how to do this–just listen and observe. Practice helps too, and over the years, I've written pretty much every type of marketing and communications content under the sun.
Idea vs Execution
Like writing, marketing is something anyone can learn and refine through practice. For instance, look up "brand strategy" online and you'll get many hits. You can find many useful articles that define "brand," "strategy" and how to create great "brand strategy." You can find easy-to-follow, step-by-step guides that walk you thorugh the process. Gaining a clear idea about a concept and it's constituent components is straightforward.
On the other hand, let's think about execution using the same example–brand strategy. In my opinion, understanding is one thing and doing is another. How you execute and implement an idea is the hard part. It's what separates good marketers from great ones. Many people think creativity is a big part of generating an idea. While that is true, I think implementation requires a great deal of creativity as well.
To Campaign #1: Origins