 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
P.O. Box 1421 |
Reid periodically writes articles on marketing, branding, and the Internet. To receive them by email, sign up here.
|
|
First You Have to Get Their Attention
When attention shifts the top brands grab customers
by Reid M. Neubert
Ever realize how you don't notice things when they are working fine? Even our own bodies – when they are functioning at 100%, we rarely pay much attention. But if we get a cut, strain a muscle, or worse, that area gets our attention immediately.
When your car is running fine, you think about driving (hopefully), not the car. But when a warning light comes on or you hear a strange noise, your attention shifts to the car. When you become aware that something isn't working well, whether it is your body, your car, or your business, it gets your attention.
Your attention also shifts when you start thinking about making a purchase. It could be a new car, a new TV, new plant equipment, or a Web site. Whatever it is, that is when you start paying attention to those goods and services, and to the advertisements for them. When you start thinking about buying a new car, for example, you notice the cars on the road that you might be interested in and start paying attention to the car ads. But let's think about why you started considering the purchase in the first place.
It is extremely difficult to sell people something that is outside their areas of attention. If I am happy with my car, you would be hard pressed to sell me a new one. If my back feels fine, good luck getting me to see a chiropractor. If my business is running smoothly, why would I want to talk to a consultant who can help me improve it?
First you need people's attention.
In marketing we talk about identifying prospects' needs, desires, or their pains. We ask how you can satisfy their needs, fulfill their desires, or ease their pain. These are ways your marketing messages can capture a prospect's attention. The catch is, they have to have some attention in that area. Those who are not aware of needs, desires, or pains in your area are not currently your prospects.
This is why marketing programs have to be ongoing. If you just market sporadically, you miss all the people whose need or desire changes or whose pain develops when your marketing is inactive. By continuously maintaining your visibility, you are right there when the prospect's attention shifts.
Be Preferred
The next step up the ladder is to not only be visible when the prospect is ready, but to be the preferred brand. When their attention shifts, ideally you want yours to be the first brand they think of. Otherwise, you have more competition to deal with and more selling to do.
Preferred brands operate in more of a seller's market, so command better prices and margins and have lower cost of sales. Better branding and consistent marketing feed directly to the bottom line. This is true both for consumer and business-to-business marketing.
Be Desired
Even more advantageous is to be a brand that plays into people's desires. This goes well beyond people's actual need for a product. A person may not need a new car but may still desire a Ferrari.
Ferrari, Rolex, iPhone, and the many trendy brands du jour – these are desire brands. Building and maintaining a desire brand and keeping it visible helps feed into people's desires to be part of the club that owns these brands.
Desire brands create buyers when there were none in the "need" space. Millions of cell phone users were content with their Nokias until the iPhone came along. Apple's cool product and great marketing created dissatisfaction with the previous generation of cell phones and the desire to have a new, hip, smart phone.
Conclusion
In branding and marketing, familiarity doesn't breed contempt, it breeds acceptance. Done right, it can breed preferred-ness and even desire.
Remember that you are relatively invisible to people until their attention shifts to your area. They have to become aware of a need, a pain, or a desire. Therefore, marketing needs to be an ongoing program in order to keep your brand visible when people's attention shifts.
# # #
Reid Neubert + Friends helps companies build brands that move them into the preferred and desired space. How can we help yours?
________
