Get back inside the box

I was sitting in a meeting the other day with a marketing manager. At the beginning of the meeting she stated that the goal of the process we were going to undertake was to “think outside the box”. This well-worn cliché used to refer to looking at a problem from a new perspective without preconceptions – i.e., using lateral thought processes to arrive at a solution to a problem.

Upon asking her to further elaborate on what she was hoping to accomplish, she stated that she was looking for a completely original, fun, and exciting approach to her marketing program. Before I go much further, it’s important for you to know that I really try to be cooperative with my clients. Unless they insist on doing something that will doom their business. It was my professional duty to speak up.

I gently reminded her that her target audience consisted mainly of engineers and accountants. For these intrepid souls, stepping too far outside the box is a terrifying experience. This doesn’t mean you can’t approach them with a compelling or even provocative message – you just can’t get too far “out there” with these folks. My position is that it is better to be relevant than original.

Does this mean we will do the same old song and dance? Hardly. Upon doing a short study of the competition, it became clear that none of these competitors were putting forth efforts that addressed the unique pain and emotion of the target audience. The most common approach was to bludgeon prospects with features upon features – with nary a compelling sales pitch to be found.

Our approach would certainly be different from the competition but we would simply put forth messages that resonated with prospects and moved them to take action. We would first implement some basic research to truly understand what motivates these prospects to choose one vendor over another. Our message and approach would be based on this factual knowledge.

Basing marketing programs and decisions on facts and appealing to people’s emotions are as “inside the box” as one can get. This methodology has worked since the dawn of man and continues to outperform the standard feature, feature, feature dreck that passes as lead generation and promotion. With most marketing resembling the latter, I guess doing what works really is “thinking outside the box”.

Get out of your own head!

If you are like most people, you’ve spent a lifetime evaluating life’s choices by filtering options through your own experiences. We also use this technique to predict what other people might do – in other words, we like to think that everyone tends to think like we do. If I’m trying to sell my car, for example, I set the price to where I think it would be fair. But what I think is fair isn’t necessarily what the rest of the world thinks. I’m basing my decision on the assumption that other people think like I do.

When it comes to marketing and sales, we do this all the time. For example, a prospect objects to your proposal and wants to check with his boss. As a salesperson we agree because it seems reasonable to us – because we might do the same thing in the prospect’s shoes. Or we might decide that a certain positioning statement won’t be effective – even though the target audience ISN’T US! This self-limiting behavior kills sales faster than a Cheetah in a bunny store. There is only one way to know if the actions we take and decisions we make will be effective. You must test your assumptions in the real world – not just the world inside your head.

My wife makes designer handbags. She is thinking about starting to sell these unique creations on-line and in boutiques. We’ve had many discussions regarding pricing. She knows exactly what it takes to make her products – how much time, materials, etc. She prices according to what SHE would spend on a similar product. I’ve helped her understand that she doesn’t match the profile of her ultimate customer and that she can’t possibly predict what these women will spend on a one-of-a-kind fashion product. Therefore the strategy should be to set the price at the highest level and see what happens in terms of sales. She can always reduce the price or change the marketing approach if the product doesn’t sell, but if she started low, it is almost impossible to raise the price later.

Do the research, be objective, but don’t be afraid to make bold decisions and take risk. If you are slightly uncomfortable with your approach, you might be on the right track. Get out of your head and test the waters. You might be surprised at the outcome.