I was in a meeting earlier this week where we were asked to share a milestone lesson we have learned as a result of being in business, sales or marketing and I had to share an epiphany I had once as a designer and developer.
After developing a couple of really cool and useful web apps I wondered why nobody was noticing. How is it possible that I solved these major issues for myself while sharing them, at no cost with others, yet had so little activity to show for it?
The answer became clear and the issue is ultimately the difference between need and demand. It’s so easy to “assume” that need will translate directly, but (newsflash) it doesn’t. And demand almost always must be created. This is Job #1 in marketing. Need plays a big role of course, but in today’s world with constant distractions, signals and messaging, if you can’t break through, the targeted market may be addressing other needs or simply being distracted by the next shiny object.
Thus the focus is, What do we do to create DEMAND? I posit that it begins with being present and consistent. Creating demand requires tapping into the emotional reserve. Why do people need this? What benefit does it bring? What problem does it help solve? Once these are known, it may take consistent messaging across the various platforms to nurture the craving.
I can see that burger with melted cheese spinning across the screen once but still make myself a healthy stir fry. Once I’ve seen it 3 times, 5 times, the craving steadily builds until one day I decide to treat myself to something fun, after all “I deserve it!”. I even recall one of the big burger businesses using that word directly in their very repeated campaigns.
Your marketing deserves a break today too. I’d love to have the dialog with you about how we can create Demand for the products you support which fill needs of your best prospects. Sometimes one conversation can bring about the breakthrough that makes a difference and I know you’ll get valuable insights into your specific niche. Please let me know when you’re ready to BrainStorm and create the demand you need.
The big marketers know the rule of “Stirring the pot” to get the ingredients to work together and while it may get tiresome, it’s a necessary part of our success. Even life on earth seems to have benefitted from a Moon that gives us tides and motion in the ocean. Without that mixing of ingredients we m ight not even exist at all. So it’s just as much a universal rule as a marketing rule. How do we use creative innovation to stir the pot and get people excited?
