Thursday is guest post day here at Duct Tape Marketing and today’s guest is from Jonathan Curran– Enjoy!
Contrary to what many internet marketers have been telling the world, outbound marketing is not dead. Inbound marketing channels have almost certainly made outbound marketing less popular but it is far from extinction.
Yes, that is true. Why do you think the television is not dead yet? Why are big companies still pouring out millions of dollars each year for advertising campaigns?
That’s the good part.
The not-so-good part that you may be well aware of is that outbound marketing campaigns are designed to cast a net (marketing message) over a huge audience in one go. The audience in this case is not highly targeted and people have shorter attention spans given the fact that the television or newspapers are not the only sources of infotainment. Not anymore.
Does that ring the bell? It should!
It is now more important than ever to blow an air of positivity into all of your outbound marketing campaigns for better results.
Why, you ask. Let’s check out!
Why Campaigns Built Around Pain Points Can Be Risky
Some marketing managers tend to focus more on pain points while drafting TV/radio advertisement scripts. An insurer, for example, has the option of portraying either a sad or a happy story in an advertisement, mailer or some other material sent out to customers.
While a tragic story revolving around life insurance policy may almost certainly convince the target audience to get one, people may also form a negative opinion about the insurer for having made them feel sad for few moments.
Such impressions, even if created subtly in target audience’s subconscious minds, can result in negative brand recall.
Make the Target Audience ‘Feel Good’
Instead of indirectly threatening people with dire consequences if they did not choose your product or service, how about making them feel good about something?
Take this diaper advertisement by Huggies, for example:
Now, you cannot hope to be able to create something that good every time but it is worth the effort to try and create campaigns that make people feel good and not threatened.
Focus on Striking a Chord with the Audience
Since customers do not interact directly with an outbound marketing campaign, it is absolutely necessary to look out for ways to strike a chord with the target audience.
Have you studied the motivation triggers that lead people to buy products you sell?
How about entertaining more and trying-to-sell less?
What if your marketing message delivers a powerful message which is not as such related to your product but makes people subconsciously relate it to your brand?
A great idea won’t pop up in the first go. It would require a series of constructive brainstorming sessions around ideas that people can easily relate to.
Needless to mention, you’d have to iterate the mass message not once but many times over before you get it right.
Make ‘Positivity’ a Part of all Outreach Programs
Newspaper/television/radio advertisements or other mass marketing messages broadcasted to hundreds and thousands of people in one go can go a long way in increasing brand recall if you consistently make ‘positivity’ a part of all outreach programs.
Everything from the imagery, text and voice to motion pictures can be selected and iterated in a manner that your marketing message gets encapsulated in positive and hard-to-ignore shell.
The Final Word
Outbound marketing is expensive. Make every penny count.
Blowing an air of positivity alone won’t necessarily motivate customers to buy your products or increase your brand recall value but it does help a great deal.
The article came from Jonathan Curran who is Author and Director of PROMOTIVATE Speakers Agency. They represent world’s leading motivational, business, conference, marketing and adventure speakers. Sharing this knowledge he helps companies and individuals unlock how to ‘make it happen’ and the importance of finding the right work/life balance which leads to improved happiness and greater success.
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