A glowing comment on one of my articles stimulated a brainstorm.
First the comment, then the brainstorm:
Perry,
I didn’t expect to see the day I’d write a note of thanks to a marketing guru!
I came to your site through the recommendation of a webmaster I respect. In developing my web business, I stopped wasting my time a long time ago on marketing gurus – I find most of them shallow, annoying, irrelevant to what I want or am able to do. So let me tell you that you are the first marketer I’ve bumped into that I’d strongly recommend to others!
Here’s what I like about what I read:
– There is integrity here. You are pushing your readers to actually provide a service to their customers. Your emphasis on becoming an expert on something and finding ways to make that expertise available to clients is truly a breath of fresh air. I am great at marketing when I know I’m really helping people with expertise. Your writing is the first time I’ve seen this idea incorporated in a fundamental way into marketing.
– Your approach requires authentically “getting into the shoes” of clients. A lot of sales methods seem to be about luring in customers rather than truly understanding what they need and addressing that need.
– You practice (in your own writing) what you preach. I truly gained valuable insight reading your marketing essays. Even if I don’t ever buy anything from you, you can count on it that I will continue to read your writings and refer you to others. I’m an example of the dynamics you advocate: whether or not I become your customer, I will likely end up increasing your customer base because I’ll be mentioning you to others, some of whom mightâ…..
I feel that the world is cheapened and diminished by most of the advertising and marketing that fills our heads with nonsense on every hand. Your approach is one about which I can actually say: the world would benefit with more marketing done like this.
Ron Kraybill, PhD
Thanks for the kind words Ron. And dear reader, I would like to single out something he said:
“The world is cheapened and diminished by most of the advertising and marketing that fills our heads with nonsense on every hand.”
The reason that most advertising is so lousy is that the expectations of it are so abysmally low.
He’s exactly right. Ad agencies degrade women into prostitutes; slogans state that some particular beverage will deepen the meaning of your life and provide soul satisfaction; and most advertisers just talk about THEMSELVES. It’s an exercise in ME – ME – ME and WE – WE – WE. US and OUR and OURS. Our heritage, our technology, our 25 years of quality and service, our methods, our approach, our family tradition, our superiority.
Most of what is said is utterly shallow, predictable and meaningless. It’s like, as soon as someone started writing ads, he shut off his brain and started speaking techno-latin.
So how about a new, higher standard for advertising and marketing?
The new standard is:
The ads in the magazine bring with them more value, more wisdom, more provocative ideas than the articles do.
The advertising is superior to the editorial. Not because the editorial is bad, but because the ads are so good.
What would that be like?
Imagine:
The paid links on the right side of Google take you into a deeper, more fascinating rabbit hole with more useful and actionable information than the free listings on the left side of Google.
What would that be like?
Imagine.
Stop imagining now. Because this is no airy-fairy ideal. It is, in fact, where the world is headed. Especially when people have less “stupid money” to spend than they did before.
That is the new standard.
With all the talk and speculation and theories about Google Quality Scores, this new standard is what Quality Scores ultimately aim to achieve: An experience that truly serves the interests and passions of the customer. Never mind the details of Google’s formula… focus on the intent:
Google wants to see that by every indication, people like this site when they get there.
So let’s do a 180 with Ron’s complaint, and craft a new mission statement:
“The world is enriched and expanded by my marketing because it inspires my customers with exciting possibilities and rare doses of common sense.”
Only 1% of the advertising out there achieves this, by the way. It is a high standard.
It also requires that your product be The Genuine Article. Sleazebags will run from this like the plague. Which is good. They ought to be driven out of main street and back to the slums of the Internet, where they belong.
Most people in advertising have an all-pervasive fear that if customers are allowed to think and experience and act in their own best interest, they will not buy. That all common sense and judgment must be suspended before a buying decision can be made.
Well I will be the first to confirm that when people buy things, it’s not like there’s some linear, logical process going on. It is emotional and yes it is impulsive.
But as Tom Hoobyar cautions about NLP and hypnosis, “Be careful how you use this stuff, because sooner or later people come out of those trances.”
This does not only apply to advertising, it’s also the bedrock of my approach to PR.
Back when I was in the Dilbert Cube, my boss Mike offered to pay me to write magazine articles for trade journals. As part of my job as sales and marketing manager.
So I started befriending editors.
My aim was this: In order to sell my drills, I’m going to write the best articles about making holes that I possibly can. The editor is going to look at all the articles they could choose to publish and mine are going to make it to the top of the stack.
One time I submitted a series of articles to an editor and just after the first one hit the streets, I met him in person for the first time at a trade show.
He said, “Perry, you can write an article for me any time you want to.”
Now my friend, that’s a PR home run. You’ve hit that home run when you’re told you are welcome to drop in any time you feel like stopping by, because you bring so much to the table… because you show so much respect to everyone, that to them you just feel like part of their family.
Or to put it in more bottom-line terms, the ability to get 1-2 pages of space in a magazine any time I wanted to, when ad space sold for $5,000 to $10,000 per page, was a valuable skill. It was an outgrowth of my aim of providing killer value.
There were no less than half a dozen editors who came to rely on me for articles, sidebars and commentary. My PR was better than their paid content. Because it didn’t feel like PR. It felt like the most sensible approach to solving a problem.
That, my friend, is the new standard.
Now… the good news is, when you set that high of a standard, most of your competitors cannot even fathom being that good. It’s not even in their paradigm. They still think everyone’s listening to their BS about how superior they are.
Go ahead, let ’em think that. While they attract customers with vinegar, you can use honey.
Don’t fear the standard. Embrace it. It’ll earn you customers, referrals, and in time, a collection of rabid followers.
To Your Success,
Perry Marshall
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About the Author
Perry Marshall has launched two revolutions in sales and marketing. In Pay-Per-Click advertising, he pioneered best practices and wrote the world's best selling book on Google advertising. And he's driven the 80/20 Principle deeper than any other author, creating a new movement in business.
He is referenced across the Internet and by Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, INC and Forbes Magazine.
16 Comments on “A new standard for ALL marketing, advertising and PR”
I know this is an old post but… wow! Last year, I thought that as a Marketer, you could walk into any niche and make money from it, with minimal knowledge in the niche.
I still think this to be true to some extent, but I think it’s important to appreciate the complexities of each niche and ultimately how important it is to actually spend some time looking at the peculiarities that make the niche what it is.
Great content as usual, Perry.
Great post. I couldn’t agree more about having the best content out there. It seems like a lot of sites, especially the currently popular affiliate-driven mini-sites, don’t keep in mind that having great content is the key to success as opposed to just SEO and affiliate links.
“Most people in advertising have an all-pervasive fear that if customers are allowed to think and experience and act in their own best interest, they will not buy.”
Great post and you hit it right on the head. It seems that just like many consumers don’t expect a whole lot out of marketers that marketers also sometimes don’t expect or even try to get their marketing efforts to offer much in the way of real value either.
The more that marketers can commit to offering extremely valuable content in their marketing efforts then the easier it will be to win consumers trust and ultimately turn them into customers.
Thanks,
Joel
http://www.DomainSuperstar.com
Until we all realize that Marketing is the glue that holds commerce together and make the world a better place, we will not take this activity seriously.
People in production or finance only realize when they strike out on their own how Marketing is the lifeblood of business. Suddenly the formerly vilified Marketing Manager colleagues are belatedly respected.
I must say that the flamboyant so-called Marketing Gurus don’t help the cause. When I came to the internet recently I was awed by the Gurus but I quickly discovered that they will do anything to do the quickest buck. Their’s is a game of aggression aggression aggression.
Since the Gurus are successful they think what they are doing is the coolest thing. Little do they realize that the internet community is a different breed, they’ll wake up sooner rather than later.
Especially with people like Perry and Seth Gordon around who understand that its about value and respect and what they are, people are catching up very fast.
Perry, I started reading your newsletters thinking you were another Internet blowhard (Outsized fonts, outlandish in your face style, tall claims, etc). But I stuck around. There was something under that street side con-man get up…something “real”. Now, I’ve reached the stage where I’m a Renaissance member and you’ve redefined marketing for me, which is: “Marketing is the communication of integrity”. Keep those guns blazin!
Perry,
I believe that this is not a marketing and advertising only issue. There is a world comprehensive claim for honesty, for true values, for respect and quality in all human activities. Making money is no longer the success threshold, you got to do the right thing and then make money as a consequence – that’s the natural way. So, offer really good products and services, make trick-free promotional offers and above all, tell the truth, showing some respect for the public is the challenge for all business community.
I feel that you have been practicing that. That is what I read beyond your texts.
For that matter you are a case yourself. Congratulations.
A refreshing twist on the ancient ‘caveat emptor!’
Let the writer beware.
Let the seller beware.
The experience that most advertising diminishes the value to customers kept me away from sales and marketing for many years. Instead, I spent my Dilbert days solving Big Hairy Problems.
It wasn’t until I struck out on my own that I started to see how Sales and marketing should be a conduit for solving customer problems.
This mission statement is going up on my wall.
:)
Thank you for your post – it is sort of like a secret weapon against the competitors!
I wonder why the current standard for advertising and marketing is so low? Is it because people are only interested in the quick buck and short term profits?
Good that this is started by you Perry. Make it a movement. This is the need of the hour.
I have simplest rule for this.
‘Love your customer’
When you love some one you give. And what you try to give is what your lover want. What your lover want is always VALUE. Simple give value to customer.
We konw wnat Perry do.
Perry, I gotta agree. Adding value is the only way to reach out to people with what you have to offer. We have too long been lied to and treated like idiots as consumers. The time has come to treat people with respect. It may be hard to believe in at first but if you follow through and deliver the goods, they’ll be back over and over again.
Thanks for all your insight.
Perry, thanks for setting that bar.
I’ve been thinking lately that people don’t need to be reminded about their problems in our marketing messages. Why not use the limited attention we get to inspire them?
NLP language patterns are still in their infancy as far as their marketing impact goes. The real value is in making the message more appealing and elegant, not tricking people.
Yes, yes and yes! Couldn’t have put it better myself. Sums up much of the reason I’m moving out of the freelance copywriting scene. I don’t believe in “the trance” anymore. Never really did.
And, when I come to think of it, Perry’s marketing newsletter is the ONLY one I’m reading these days. I’m signed up to about five or six — and rarely read them. Yet, I never miss Perry’s.
Keep it up.
I’ve been doing same in other niches. It feels great.
Terry,
Great to hear from you. 10 years ago, yours was one of the first online marketing ezines I ever read. I’d print out a stack of them and take them on a plane when I’d go out on sales trips.
Hope to meet you sometime in person.
Perry
Awesome post Perry!
I agree this is where the internet is headed. Quality content used to sell the correct customers on a quality product. Of course when your product is BETTER than your advertising it creates all the backend sales needed to run a real business online…instead of all the hype or get-rich-quick stuff we see all over.
Perry,
I’ve always loved reading your stuff because of the truly authentic voice that you bring to your material. It is interesting to see more and more of the rest of the world moving in that same direction.
It is also great to see Bryan Todd blogging and developing his unique voice as well. The two of you are some of the few marketers who I will stop whatever I am doing to read what you have to say. Ditto for Glenn Livingston. Keep up the great work!
Pat