3 Marketing Resolutions for 2018
Respect. Respectful. Respected.
I feel there is no better way to think of Respect than the well-known saying ‘what goes around comes around.’ You certainly want to be respected. As marketers, you want your solution to be respected and you want your brand to be respected. But sometimes we focus more on what makes snazzy marketing and in the process we forget the importance of Respect. What does it mean to give and receive Respect in marketing? Here are 3 easy to implement tactics that will help ensure your marketing is respectful and will be respected and be snazzy too:
1 Ask someone else to read it… always a good tactic, mostly because it helps ensure that the message is on point and, at the same time, helps minimize bias. When you give your collateral to someone who doesn’t know your business, doesn’t know your product or your industry, you are more likely to get genuine feedback. Be prepared! This feedback may run the gamut from how effective your message is (see #2 below) to which words or images could be misinterpreted by an audience. Do this. The feedback will help ensure your message is on-point and also that your message does not offend a different audience.
2 Select images to enhance your message. At a recent business lunch I commented on a clever ad that aired between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The visuals were cute and memorable…but when I was asked who ran the ad I could not remember what was being sold or who ran the ad! While the ad included memorable images, the brand did not resonate. This is a great example of really fun marketing that somehow lost the brand.
3 When in Doubt, Don’t. You read the copy, you looked at the layout, approved the images, sent the whole thing to management, legal, the client, et al, but each time you look at the collateral, something seems a little off. If you have the slightest hesitation about whether a message may be misinterpreted, listen to your gut. You will want to change either the message or the image. Make the change to ensure:
- You don’t offend anyone
- Your message has the best possible associations
There is simply no reason for your message to get dragged into a dispute! Because as we witnessed time and again in the past 2 years, there is such a thing as bad press and you don’t want to waste resources trying to overcome it.
As marketers we often feel the need to craft a sassy, fresh message, to connect with what’s new, to make a statement. We want to show that our solution is hip and connected to the audience. We can still achieve that and at the same time, be certain to show Respect for everyone while getting Respect for our solution and brand.
About the Author | Marcie Wiehagen
Marcie is a senior marketing consultant with more than 20 years experience in brand, acquisition, and retention marketing. She is based outside of New York City where her focus is on the UHNW (Ultra High Net Worth) segment as well as businesses. She is currently engaged in a data driven CRM project and deep in numbers that describe the UHNW segment.
