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“Nameless, faceless cold hearted fiends!”
That’s the descriptive message delivered by business owners
about the communication they receive from… OTHER BUSINESSES!
Warmth, empathy, authenticity and personality, seems to have
been left to reside in the dictionary, with its pages opened by a
knowledgeable few.
We just have to take a look at the marketing and business
communication we receive in a week… -and you can name an industry category
you want – medical, engineering, software, financial, educational seminars,
catering, business services, the lot… it’s all pretty bog standard stuff,
wouldn’t you agree?
In fact, just take a peek inside your own, or other trade
industry journals and publications. The trail of waste and absurdity, reads
the same.
There’s nothing much to get juiced and excited about. No real
“Wow, that’s smart, ingenious, compelling… and… it’s got me really
interested” type of feeling.
Marketing’s
Number One Sin is Scattered Around… in Abundance!
Yes, marketing’s numero uno sin is simply everywhere because
most B2B advertising begins with a lifeless collection of meaningless
platitudes that are, quite literally, deadly dull and boring beyond
comprehension.
All too often, it looks like most marketers (selling to
businesses as well as direct to the end consumer) display their own human
nature, instead of kerbing it and fixing on the human nature of the
prospect.
For if you really get it, all the prospect is interested in is contained
within the evergreen song - What’s in it for me?
Quite frankly, if you were to get similar marketing and
promotional pieces from competitors in any industry, you could simply switch
company names and it wouldn’t make a jot of difference in what was being
sold!
I think you’ll agree that if there’s anything that gets us
fidgety, it’s reading the monotonous, lacklustre, groaning and droning tones
of those desperate to interest us in their products and services.
I mean, don’t we deserve to be informed, tickled, challenged,
educated, in a way that doesn’t impose, bully or simply… bore that pants off
of us?
Think about the poor recipient who’s at the end of a business
communication. We’ve got to realise that he faces stacks of written and
promotional material every single day. They’re piling up to the height of
his bookshelves. They’re like paper skyscrapers fencing him in.
He’s drowning
in paper chaos!
Don’t you see it? He’s on the verge of sending the whole lot
into the centre of the room and setting them alight, he wants to burn the
damn things up! Can you see him now? He’s like a psychotic maniac, muttering
to himself, “just one more boring letter and the whole pile gets it!”
And then… a
marketing piece arrives on his desk.
He then stops to look at what could be the last letter that
he ever sees. He fumbles with the envelope, rips open the mailing piece,
and…AAARGH!!...
“ABC company is a foremost communications solutions provider
with professional integrity, global client portfolio, unsurpassable
management infrastructure and impeccable professional credibility, BLAH BLAH
BLAH…”
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Can’t you see the poor sod now? With that last fond farewell
GUILTY sales letter in his hand, he’s about to torch the whole place to
cinders…
The poor fellow above could have had his sanity spared when
all that was needed was a much needed dose of PERSONALITY along with a warm
and charming story weaved into the business communication.
Yes. Because business-to-business marketing isn’t
businesses speaking to businesses… it’s one person, speaking to another!
And that’s all there is to the solution of bad, wasteful, boring marketing
and advertising communication.
Personality counts… A LOT!
Where would Virgin be without Richard Branson? Where would Richer Sounds be
without Julian Richer? Where would The Apprentice be without Sir Alan Sugar?
Of course, one doesn’t have to be the flamboyant rah rah Mr.
Charisma. But, being oneself and letting that natural authenticity and
personality shine through, can’t but help win people over in droves.
And obviously, faking a personality just to be in the
limelight is easily spottable. And do you know what? Faking it does nothing
less than drive that prospect into the willing and cosy arms of… your
competitors!
Most people in general, feel that they have little or no
personality. Which of course, is a mis-truth. The problems arise when trying
to transfer that sometimes hidden personality into a marketing and sales
document, whether onto paper - pc, radio, tv, or any other media format.
And it’s probably true that there are hundreds of great products and
services that didn’t make it to the marketplace in a way that the
owner intended. Do you know why that is? It’s because of the reluctance of
the business owner to inject the necessary personality and humanness into
the marketing and advertising of their products and services.
Though to be fair to the business owner, if he’s entrusting the marketing
and promoting of his business to third party professionals, they ought to
step in and cure this personality problem, ought to.
R C. Hireker is a Freelance Marketing Consultant and Direct Response
Copywriter Specialising in Creating Personality Driven Marketing. You can
reach him by Email at:
hireker@btopenworld.com or by Phone, 24 HOURS A DAY, 7-DAYS A
WEEK, on number: 44 (0) 208 764 1085
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