Maverick Marketing: Part 2

Okay, so if we’re all getting very good at tuning out traditional advertising, what’s getting through?

1) Authenticity.
Anything with the ring of truth. Why? It stands out from all the hype. It sounds like reality. It sounds like a source you can trust, like a friend. Also anything that sounds unscripted, imperfect, and a little rough around the edges. Basically, anything that wouldn’t make it past the average corporate legal and PR department.

And that’s really good news if you’re a small business, because you have the freedom to be a little wild and unpredictable. You can say things that big companies can’t. You can be irreverent and funny and even self-deprecating where they have to be serious and respectable all the time, for fear of offending their stockholders. You can be specific and local in your references, and use real, recognizable, local faces in your printed sales materials: they are limited to general vague messages that appeal to no-one and sanitized air-brushed models that all end up looking like corporate clip-art. (Hint: if your materials look like they could be mistaken for those of the local bank or phone service, you’re not taking advantage of your underdog appeal.)

Simple conversations and understatement work really well in a world of hype. Believe it or not, those awful home-made local TV ads are just as effective as the slicker traditional variety. Why? People can’t turn away. And not just because they’re truly awful to watch, but because they have a local feel, which is something that is rare in these days of media conglomerates.

2) Entertainment
Make someone smile, or better yet, laugh, and you make a sale. Maybe not immediately, but when they’re ready to buy, you’re a shoo-in. Why? Humor bypasses the cynical adult within and engages the inner kid on an emotional level. That pleasant emotion is then associated with the product/service, and that’s what we remember. You can do it with words or visuals, or both. Just do it.