Brand perception – Mother knows best
I read an enlightening titbit from the venerable Dave Trott on Twitter. As with all of his little parables, it was pure magic.
It related to when he first got into the advertising business and, curious about how it all worked, he decided to ask his Mum a simple question: “Why do you buy Cadbury’s instead of other chocolate?”
She said, “Well I don’t know, you see the name around a lot, it’s quite famous so it must be good, and reliable I suppose…”
And there it is – advertising laid bare.
Get noticed, promote your USP, actually be what you say you are, and be consistent.
In a time when marketing strategy/thinking seems to be disproportionately biased towards the medium over the message, it’s nice to be reminded what it is we are really trying to do.
So whilst your own situation will differ depending on your commercial circumstances and competitor status, always remember that not all prospects will need to develop a deep affinity with your brand before they enter a long-term and monogamous fiscal relationship with you.
Often the real world is not like that. Moreover you shouldn’t try and force your audience into your specific, predetermined customer journey algorithm – just share useful information (honest, decent, legal and true) and let them make up their own minds. After all, they’re (often) adults.
The danger is to over intellectualise – again as Dave Trott says, “Simple is smart. Complicated is stupid.” So always think, ‘What would Mrs Trott say?’ knows best.