How to Be the Most Believable Marketer in Your Space
A short while ago, I wrote a post discussing one of three key marketing principles discovered and well-documented by the Eureka! Ranch (Overt Benefit). I’ve gotten a lot of feedback since, and thought it would be worthwhile to complete my review of all three principles as we should all have them at the forefront of our minds as we undertake our work.
The second principle speaks to the skepticism that all of us feel when confronted with marketing. Let’s face it… life experience has taught us to believe little of what we hear from marketers.
For this reason, strong statements of benefits – no matter how compelling – fail to move people to action without the help of REAL reasons to believe what you’re saying.
The benefit is what your offering. The reason to believe is HOW you’re going to make good on the promise. We simply have to provide both.
As I watch the marketplace today, I find that this issue – the real reason to believe is the greatest weakness of new business concepts.
To convert the excitement ignited by the overt benefit into actual sales, people demand that we provide persuasive credibility and evidence that we (or our product/service) will perform as promised. With customer confidence at an all-time low, giving compelling reasons to believe a marketing message is AS IMPORTANT as providing an overt benefit.
When communicating benefits, you may recall that there is a negative correlation between the number of benefits featured and the impact of the message. More is NOT better.
Not so with providing reasons to believe. In fact, as a rule, more reasons to believe are better than fewer as is evidenced by successful infomercials. Think about it. The best infomercials (the ones you see over and over) dedicate more than half of their time to reasons to believe (as opposed to communicating features and benefits).
I have mentioned the Proactiv skin care product line before. You lose count of the “unpaid” celebrity testimonials after a while.
How do you communicate your reasons to believe?
According to the research done at the Ranch, there are five proven strategies to communicating real reason to believe. With one exception they are all equal in their effectiveness:
- Kitchen logic (42% probability of success)
- Personal experience (45% probability of success)
- Pedigree (41% probability of success)
- Testimonial (41% probability of success)
- Guarantee (60% probability of success)
Kitchen logic conveys how the benefit is delivered, using language that people can easily understand and quickly relate to… old-fashioned logic.
Personal experience is about providing customers with an opportunity to see, feel, and experience the product or benefit. There are three types of personal experience: 1. sampling, 2. demonstration, and 3. sensory feedback.
A demonstration is particularly effective when it is set in a situation that seems nearly hopeless. They can be done live OR documented and used as evidence in brochures or advertising. Sensory feedback is about providing people with signals that reinforce your product’s effectiveness. At its simplest, this means helping them see, feel, smell, taste, or touch the experience.
Pedigree is about providing people confidence by detailing the heritage behind your product or service. There are three types of pedigrees:
- development pedigree (providing credibility as a result of the design, creation, formulation, or production process behind your product or service);
- marketing pedigree (best selling, recommended by 3 of 4 doctors, etc.); and
- trademark pedigree (using a brand or trademark that has a pedigree of trust – Good Housekeeping).
Testimonials can be provided by customers, experts, or independent third parties. Media quotes can be an outstanding source of independent testimonials.
Guarantees can be the most powerful reason to believe IF the fine print is minimized. The power of a guarantee is directly linked to the level of risk that you appear to be taking. No risk… no marketing benefit.
6 More tips on being the most believable marketer in your space:
- The Internet and infomercials are marketing media that carry high levels of consumer skepticism. If you use these media, you must triple your credibility communications to achieve the same level of impact as classic physical retailers.
- Score your real reasons to believe versus your competition.
- Your reasons to believe MUST BE relative to an overt benefit that MUST speak to a target audience. Therein is created a chain reaction in which each piece of your message works together.
- Anything done during development or production that is unique offers potential as a reason to believe.
- Beware of offering irrelevant reasons to believe.
- Beware of following the industry in offering reasons to believe. The more a strategy is used, the less credible it becomes. People simply conclude “they always say that.”
January 15th, 2008 at 7:41 pm
I would like to believe what you say. And in fact, way back in the day, ay around 1950, much of this was true, in the abscence of category competition. But now I look at marketers such as GM, Ford and Chrysler, who have these principles down to a science - and they still hemorrage business to rivals. By following these principles, believing in their correctness, marketers converge on commodity positions saying and doing these things for themselves in their own ways. As a result, McKinsey & Company reports that despite solid balance sheets and healthy bottom lines many companies and categories have lost their glow, and the executives within wonder where their growth will come from. So as Emeril says, ‘BAM!” How can companies bump it up a notch beyond the advice of Eureka Ranch?
January 16th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Respectfully, I disagree that these principles are outdated in any way. Rather, I think that these tired, old marketers have somehow forgotten the concepts of REAL reasons to believe and DRAMATIC difference… to say nothing of the fact that their products are shockingly inferior to their foreign competitors and no longer have an overt benefit short of 0% financing.
When your category becomes crowded, and new product innovations are no longer meaningful, differentiation can always be found in the provision of service and standing behind what you say… building new and REAL reasons to believe.
Since you cited the automotive industry, let me direct the discussion to Lexus and ask if these principles are in any way failing to serve Toyota. Lexus actually follows through on its lofty ideals that are beautifully and stirringly articulated in its covenant with customers:
The Lexus Covenant
“Lexus will enter the most competitive,
prestigious automobile race in the world.
Over 50 years of Toyota automotive experience
has culminated in the creation of Lexus cars.
They will be the finest cars ever built.
Lexus will win the race because
Lexus will do it right from the start.
Lexus will have the finest
dealer network in the industry.
Lexus will treat each customer
as we would a guest in our home.
If you think you can’t, you won’t…
If you think you can, you will!
We can, we will.”
What happens when these ideals are assaulted by real-life? Lexus rises to the occasion.
Nancy Fein, vice president for customer services with Lexus recently told the story of a minor technical glitch that effected some 3,000 of its inaugural LS 400 sedans nearly 20 years ago.
Lexus discovered the problem and responded NOT by hoping no one would notice… NOT by asking their new buyers to return to the dealership for repairs… but by sending some 300 of its executives to the homes of the affected customers to apologize in person, hand-deliver a gift, and repair the problem (with the help of a technician) right there in the customer’s driveway.
Last year, a similar issue arose with some 700 of its ES 350 models that had been delivered with faulty transmissions. In this case, Lexus did ask these customers to return to the dealership to drop off their cars…. but not for repairs. Rather - to pick up their BRAND NEW replacement - no questions asked.
Not surprisingly, follow-up surveys show that these customers were MORE LOYAL to Lexus than buyers who experienced no problems at all.
So I ask - is it the principles or the marketers that are outdated?