Photo by Shoeib Abolhassani on Unsplash
Branding and marketing.
My briar patch.
But it’s not everyone’s happy place.
Aside from avoiding promotion and marketing entirely, I’m finding entrepreneurs struggle with marketing effectively. So, I spent some time trying to identify why these otherwise brilliant business people failed to reach customers. In this article, we’ll look inside five business approaches that failed. And then, I’ll give you the reason – the one reason – why sales dropped, and the businesses failed.
You take that reason, apply the lesson, and succeed where they did not.
Sloppy Susie
A brilliant young woman with a skincare line sought business coaching. She worked with chemists and dermatologists to perfect her homemade, herbal formula which she was marketing to a distinct public. She had a business plan, a marketing plan, and was well-versed in social media.
She chose posh branding, with fonts and colors, images, and video that communicated a luxury lifestyle. Good, I thought. Nice job. She was successfully selling face-to-face at beauty expos. Great.
And then it went down the tubes.
She started posting her personal pictures on her professional social media pages. The naked image was just too much. (I am not exaggerating.) Sure, she could be the face of her brand. But frankly, her rock star trashy approach did not align with the high-end luxury product she was selling. The images were not posh; they were not Chanel or BMW. They would have accented a Harley Davidson ad. Or a music club. Or lingerie company.
And worse, she went from power entrepreneur to… well, you know the monikers. One should not objectify oneself.
Her business tanked. Her marketing, her brand, did not appeal to her target market.
The Ad Design
I created a beautiful ad for a client who is now retired. The rumor mill informs she went bankrupt, but who knows?
My experience was short and (not sweet). I created the ad, revealed it with aplomb, and listened to her grunt before spending ten minutes criticizing the colors, the bold lines, and the wording. She had hired me to refresh her brand and to target a new market. But, she wanted to like the ad. And she didn’t.
I reminded her that her customers were young, energetic, and seeking a confident professional. The market wanted strength. Excitement. That she might not like the ad, personally, but that her target market would.
My client was traditional, preferred sincere branding, and passed on my efforts.
I was crestfallen. And, back then, did not know why I had failed.
Her target market did not align with her personal values.
All About Me
Although I did not create this marketing, I watched it fail. The company where I worked launched a major campaign for its design services. The ads, created in-house, were gorgeous. The colors were hip. The graphics were striking, harking back to the 1920s. I loved the visual components.
But the words didn’t mention what the company could do for the client. Every message was how amazing the lead designer was: His achievements, his awards, his striking good looks.
Sure, you want to sell you if you offer professional services. And his achievements were impressive. But he never made the connection between those achievements and solving the clients’ problems.
Big omission. Marketing must answer the customers’ or clients’ question: What can this do for me?
Too Hip
About a year ago, I was working with a client for a short stint. I finally told him: I’m not the content person for you. But it pained me. I really liked him.
What came between him and me?
A QR Code.
Over the course of a six-month relationship, every improvement I suggested for his marketing was pooh-poohed. As a Boomer executive, in his seventies, he hired me explicitly to energize his branding and marketing. He said, “I want to reach a younger public. They need to save money. They need to learn to invest.”
I agreed and went to work.
I suggested video – even a YouTube page. Nope. He wanted to continue writing articles for the local print newspaper. I suggested, gently, that his younger, target market was not reading that paper.
I suggested he give a lecture or two – perhaps at the college or high schools. Nope. Articles, please. I suggested he publish the articles as blogs on his website. He had no website. I suggested the website. He audibly poohed.
Sigh. My last attempt was to incorporate QR codes to let his target market access his contact information. A virtual business card. Nice.
He rolled his eyes. “No one knows how to use those. I point my camera at it and it does nothing.”
“But, Bruce (I’ll call him Bruce), the publics you’re trying to reach know how to use QR codes. It will make you seem cool. Like you can talk to them – like you know them.”
“That’s too hip for me, Missy. Let’s stick with publishing the phone number.”
Alrighty then, Brucey. Missy will be over here working for someone else.
He retired.
The Plants
This story pains me. I had assisted this client with attracting impressive amounts of funding – including angel funds. I was super-excited for her and her coffeehouse, so for the first six months, I would visit once or twice a month. Then I got busy and hadn’t visited for several months.
On my last visit, not even a year into her venture, I learned she was closing the coffeehouse. And I knew why before her admission.
The business plan had targeted college students and local professionals as customers. The original approach included live music, delectable treats, and quiet spaces for conversation, studying, or reading. In her first months, she was far more profitable than expected. I – and other SBA advisors – had helped her choose a perfect location. I had helped her brand, market, and reach the target communities. It was going well.
But on that last visit, I noticed live plants in glass jars hanging over the tables. The tables were covered with dirt and dead leaves. She had created a play area for children – right in the middle of the dining area! Toys were strewn all over and kids were running around underfoot. The two patrons were in the corner chatting while their kids tore up the place.
“How long have they been here?” I asked, gesturing to the moms.
“A few hours,” the owner admitted.
“What have they purchased?” I asked.
“They each had a tea. And a cookie for the two kids.” She smiled. “Aren’t they cute? I love having kids around. I warmed the place up with those plants. It’s so homey.”
Right.
The place was dirty. Loud. No longer inviting for the people for whom you designed your business. I didn’t even stay for coffee.
The doors shut a week later. If she wanted a community environment, we could have designed that – and located where parents could enjoy some me time. But that was not the plan.
The Broken Rule
- A well-to-do professional woman will not associate with a skincare brand represented with obscenity.
- You might not want to wear your branding, but it’s not about you. You want to serve a young market, boxy, conservative ads – in the newspaper – will not reach them.
- Your credibility is important – but only as it applies to what you can do for your client.
- Your market has expectations – you serve them with the QR codes they need to be confident you know what you’re doing.
- College students and professional people meeting for coffee don’t want children underfoot. And they sure don’t want dirt in their beverage.
Marketing is a mix of your brand and your target customer’s or client’s expectations. It’s a little bit you (them), and a little bit me (you). It’s what they need and how you can serve them – with your style and values. Marketing, branding, advertising, is communication science – not rocket science. And the meaning of any communication lives with the receiver.
You cannot break that rule.
You cannot ignore that reality.
If you want to sell a luxury brand, you and your brand, have to be classy. If you want to reach a particular public, you have to speak to them in language and images that speak to them. If you want to establish yourself as an authority, you have to give the person a reason to trust you.
If you want to open a family bakery where moms can grab a coffee while the kids enjoy a playroom, great. Design your business for that public. The business plan would have been completely different. The decor and location would have been different. The menu would have been different.
It’s not all about you.
The same applies to communication. It’s your words. It’s your product or service. But when you are talking about it, you need to respect the listener’s preferences. Or they will not hear you. Use the words they understand, the values they treasure, the images and colors that attract them, the music they enjoy, the messages that represent them, the channels they follow.
If you can’t speak your customer’s or client’s language, you’re marketing to the wrong audience, in the wrong industry, or ready for retirement. And if you hold the idea that it’s your way or no way, you have an audience of one. You.