Fear as a Factor in Marketing/Advertising

One of the biggest reasons I’ve decided to blog about this marketing campaign is because as I began this project, I quickly recognized how big a factor FEAR OF THE UNKNOWN is in the marketing process. 

As I mentioned in a previous post, I’ve worked with many brilliant marketing professionals and as I began this project, BOY did I want to toss this hot potato into one of my colleague’s lap.  I desperately wanted someone else to take the helm…. to tell me what I should and shouldn’t do.  Basically, I want them to confidently lead while I gratefully follow.  

See, promoting your product or services (marketing) is all about making mistakes.  (Read Michel Fortin’s Copywriting the 80/20 Way for an interesting take on this idea.)  As a matter of fact, failure to some degree is to be EXPECTED!  Only after running a campaign and then going back, fixing mistakes and launching a subsequent campaign can you expect to achieve success. 

The cycle is "TEST-LAUNCH-TEST-FIX"…. lather, rinse and repeat!

Anyone who enters into product promotion expecting immediate success should probably reconsider playing the game because, by it’s nature, marketing communication is ALL about improving the performance.   

A perfect example of this is Nutri-System.   Nutri-System carefully tracks each and every marketing message they create.  They experiment with different testimonials, seeing with customer story performs the best and they carefully create ways to track those various ads’ successes.  In the hyper-competive and lucrative market of weight loss, an ad that pulls .05% more than it’s predecessor is considered a success. 

THAT’S THE KEY!  Put it out there and measure the results.  Then, make a SINGLE CHANGE to try to improve the results next time.  (If you make more than one change, you won’t be able to track which of the two changes caused the positive or negative result.)

Lather, rinse, repeat!

As I work with clients, I must listen to my own "advice"…. marketing is a JOURNEY and we have to choose to begin somewhere.  Once we’ve launched the initial campaign, THEN we can begin tweaking and tuning the message.  Waiting to create the "perfect" message means waiting forever… there will always be a "tweak" that beckons to be made.

So the journey begins for my campaign, as well as for the campaigns I’m managing.