To get to the people you want to reach, go to where they are
- Fri, March 04 2011
- Filed under: Marketing essentials
There’s a great Shel Silverstein poem about a girl named Lazy Jane. She wants a drink of water, so she lies on her back, opens her mouth, and waits for it to rain. Lazy, lazy, lazy Jane.
Building a pretty website or writing a lovely annual report and calling it a day is like being Lazy Jane. It’s like lying down and waiting for everyone to gather round to hear your message. You’re going to be waiting a long time, just like Jane.
Lazy Jane marketing won’t work well. The key to reaching people is to take your message to them. You should be delivering it to their precise physical, mental and emotional location. These spots may be far from your own coordinates and comfort zones, so be ready to travel.
*Go to their online outposts. Don’t expect everyone to come to your website. Go out and find people who care about your issue and engage them in conversation wherever they are online. I’d rather be an organization that posts comments on someone else’s widely read blog than one that writes a blog no one reads.
*Go to their heads. Don’t expect someone to share your world view. Meet your communities where they are mentally and psychologically. If they care about their local creek more than the overall issue of water quality, start the conversation there.
*Go to their hearts. Understand what matters to people and appeal to their feelings. Don’t lead with what drives you; lead with what moves them.
Comments
Great timing. Yesterday on Facebook a video game company called Mastiff posted that they will donated $100 to the Red Cross for every 100 Likes.
Here’s where it failed:
1. People are not stupid. The comments like “This is pathetic. Just donate some damn money instead of trying to garner publicity.” are pouring in.
2. How is an arbitrary number of Facebook likes helping your company?
It’s a lesson in a lot of bad marketing ideas, but mostly companies misunderstanding of how social media is supposed to help them
Ahh… I intended to post that comment on your “Too cute by half is a quarter as effective” post. Too many open tabs of your great blog…