Making Your Marketing Meaningful

At a recent Chamber of Commerce function I had the opportunity to hear Carolyn Rhinebarger, owner of Strategic Guru, give a speech entitled "Making Your Marketing Meaningful." Here are a few tidbits from her talk, along with a few comments of my own:

Marketing opens the door for sales to close the deal.

Our view: This is true. I would add that Public Relations paves the way for marketing to be more effective. Think about it: if you receive otherwise identical marketing pieces from two similar companies, you will likely pay more attention to the piece from the company that has already established credibility in your eyes.

Appeal to your prospect's self-interest. No one likes to be "sold."

Our view: Again, this is absolutely true. People don't care what your company does, they care how it impacts them. Put yourself in your audience's shoes when developing your message.

Forget about what you want to say and focus on what your prospect wants to hear.

Our view: Again, this is true, with a caveat: do not misinterpret this to mean you should "tell people what they want to hear." You should focus on talking about what matters to your audience. If you are talking about apples and they are concerned only with oranges, you will lose them. Know what matters to your audience and speak their language.

These are a few key tidbits from Carolyn's talk; I hope you find them useful.