Stop Being So Secret

I don’t know about you, but all too often people claim to have the secret answer, secret ingredient, the magic bullet or whatever else they won’t tell you how they do it.

As a kid I can remember watching a magic show and being amazed by the silver rings that were so shiny and apparently solid construction, only to be surprised when the magician was able to “magically” separate them in an instant. This is great for kids, but bad for marketers. Clients don’t want magic tricks, or smoke and mirrors, they want answers and strategies that are based on a solid analytical foundation and yield great results.

Recently I stayed at a Ritz Carlton and had an amazing meal to which I commented to the waitress how good it was – her response, would you like the recipe? I was flabbergasted, here I was enjoying something new and delicious and they were going to provide me with the step by step process to enjoying the meal again and again.

Imagine if you had a relationship with your business partners, wherein they would explain the recipe to you and help you to replicate the results over and over. That would be the definition of a long term partnership - and it would be delicious.

At Blu we believe in the process of walking through challenges with our clients and answering the 7 questions that surround every marketing challenge and in turn serving up great results for our clients.

Bon Appetite.

Customer Needs and Wants vs what you are selling

I just got back from a business trip in which I spent a good deal of time in the airport world. People watching is a favorite past time of mine, as I enjoy analyzing human behavior and apply the key findings of my observations to my every day life and the advertising marketing world in which I work. While the business of travelers moved around me, I had about 45 minutes of people watching. As I watched people move in and out of shops and boarding lines, it occurred to me that all people really want out of their purchasing power is for you give them what they want, not what you think they need. As I pondered this concept , I wondered what sort of analysis could be performed for a company to assist them in this marketing endeavor. Times are hard and money is limited, so how do you make a marketing budget truly impact the bottom line? The logical answer is a thorough analysis on your customer base so that Identifies the drivers of profit, hooks that help retention, and markers to find more profitable clients. I know it sounds simple, but the reality is most companies don’t have the resources to dedicate to finding out what really is working, and most importantly what is not working. If you think about what really drives your own buying behaviors, I suspect you will find that you are drawn to companies that have what you want (fulfilling your need), have excellent delivery channels (can buy it on-line, in person or by phone), and you are endeared to their brand at some level. In my life, there are many times where my emotional wants and desires trump my logical needs. It really is the world in which we live.
As part of the Reflex blu team, we understand the need to know your customer, know what drives profit, and how to market through multiple channels to get your message heard. Don’t settle on marketing what you think the consumer needs, find out what they want and fulfill the need. Long-term profits will be the return on your investment, when you marketing to the right person, at the right time, with the product or service they need.