Don’t Take That Tone With Me!

If the 3 rules in real estate are location, location, location then the 3 rules of marketing are audience, audience, audience. ProBlogger Kelly Diels recently posted “Do you hate your customer?” and examined what can happen when contempt replaces a deeper understanding of your audience. Kelly reminds us that no one does business with companies “that don’t even like them.” Take a look at your own blogs and marketing messages. Do they express a thinly veiled disdain for the values of your audience? If so, you may be ostracizing the very people you hope to attract.

Clarity, Transparency & Simplicity

I hate being deceived. I think we all do.  Yet, we tolerate intentionally deceptive, misleading, and inaccurate language in  documents ranging from legislation to loan agreements.  This is often also true of marketing communications and advertising, where cleverness substitutes for imparting useful information, and entertainment directs our attention away from troublesome shortcomings of the product or service.  That’s not to say that you can’t be clever and communicate real, differentiating value at the same time — just look at the oft-cited Mac vs. PC ads.  The growth of online social networks, and the enhanced power of consumer-to-consumer, one-to-many communication may yet lead us toward more responsible, clear, useful and simple advertising.  Those companies that realize this and respond first may have an advantage.

Thanks to Valeria Maltoni for bringing this item to my attention via her site, Conversation Agent.