All change?

“We live in a society which is in the throes of a technical revolution…The changes we see each year are probably greater than those our predecessors encountered in a decade, or perhaps in a working lifetime. When I started in this industry a good ad, promotion, or a media strategy could remain productive for years.  They now pass into history almost as fast as the datelines on the magazines and papers we use”. These words were actually delivered by Lester Wunderman nine years after he launched his eponymous advertising agency….in 1967!  Every generation thinks their time is moving faster, is more complex, is more dynamic – in reality things have been changing at this pace for as long as any of us can remember and will continue to do so. There are, however, many things that don’t change at the same pace as technology, indeed hardly ever, if at all – and it’s these “principles” that I ask you to consider if you wish your marketing communications to be highly effective in a constantly changing technological environment.

We’re creatures of habit.  Most people tend to read the same newspapers, listen to the same radio station, watch certain types of TV and so on.  Despite the explosion of choice we still tend to pick the same old things.  The Indian restaurant test proves this concept – I guarantee that if you take ten people to your local curry house and return with the same group a month later 90%+ of the food ordered will be identical on both visits.  To increase sales you need to know your target audiences’ habits – and the investment to truly understand their behaviour and preferences can pay dividends for a lifetime.

People say they want something new and unique, and many do, but even more want to own the product that’s socially acknowledged; that’s clearly a leader by virtue of others owning it. It’s a difficult and fine line between having something that’s cool and something that’s ubiquitous – but this line is the marketing goal you should aim for.  People like to think they’re pioneers; the truth is very few are – that’s why they’re pioneers – the trick is to make people feel that they’re at the cutting edge even though they’re really just the first of the laggards.

We’ll buy an inferior product from a market leader more easily than a better product from an unknown.  So many business people throw their hands up in horror at how their much larger competitor continues to outsell them despite their competitor’s product being lame by comparison.  But that’s the way it is, always has been, always will be.  So you need to cloak yourself in authority to truly compete and this can be achieved in a number of ways, frequently with effective PR.

In many industries, service particularly, all too often the reason one company is selected over another has nothing to do with the quality of the proposition, speed and warranty or even the price – it’s all down to whether they like you more or less than the other guy.  People have always bought people first and always will.  As so many products and services become commoditised the habit of buying from people you know and like will only increase.  Nowadays the management of “being liked” is ever more complex and yet its importance should not be underestimated or suffer from a lack of investment.

Most people tend to compare and contrast in evaluating whether something is “good or bad”.  Similarly “value” is often determined by how something seems compared to something else – this is why a £199 pair of shoes can look cheap when they’re reduced from £499 in the sale.  Many successful retailers know that they can achieve the appearance of better value by carefully tapping into this habit, however overuse it by having a continuous sale.  So pick your promotional messages carefully.

Of course we need to keep abreast of technological changes and to be tuned into the latest media trends and ways we can communicate, but at the same time we should always keep in mind that some of the principles of sales and marketing are the same today as they were a decade and a century ago and no new fad or gadget will change these. It’s ironic that change is one of the few constants in life, but that some of the governing principles of marketing will always stay the same.