Training Marketer

The ability to tell a good joke is a skill that few posses and many aspire to have. Some people believe they can tell a funny joke, when in fact, they fail miserably every time they try.

Developing and delivering great marketing works in the same way you would deliver a joke. Unlike a joke, your branding and marketing messages may not be funny, but they must be effective.

Thanks to the authors of the Ubereye Marketing Blog, who were creative enough to make the connection and generous enough to share their tips with the rest of us. Breaking down the steps to telling a good joke can help us deliver an effective marketing message.

Before you start talking, know the joke from memory. Consumers know when a company is not fully connected to the message they’re sending. Know your brand and marketing message before trying to sell it.

Know your audience. Some jokes may be inappropriate in certain settings. Not every consumer out there will like your brand or buy your widget. It’s your job to find the target audience most inclined to listen to your message.

Don’t tell your audience how funny your joke is before telling it, because they’ll start off skeptical. It’s like saying you have the best, most innovative and effective product on the market. Any savvy consumer will have their doubts about your egotistical claims. If what your selling is the best, people should know already by word of mouth.

Jokes should follow a direct, simple and sequential story line. Keep your brand message simple enough for someone to understand in the first few seconds they land on your site. Your marketing message must also tie into the overall message of your brand.

Commit to your joke and follow through to the end. More than knowing it by memory, your company must commit to your brand and marketing message completely.

How effective your joke or marketing message is (or isn’t), will be left up to your audience to decide. Everyone has the ability to tell a good joke or deliver a powerful marketing message if you just remember a few simple tips, test your message and keep trying.

An article in the New York Times, “Hoping to Make Phone Buyers Flip,” follows the struggles of LG Electronics through designing a new cell phone model. Phone consumers are “gadget conscious” shoppers, buying a new phone every nine months. The deciding factor if a phone will fly off the shelves - popular appeal.

The world has changed,” said Jeremy Dale, who is in charge of marketing for mobile devices at Motorola, Images where fortunes tumbled with the decline of its once popular Razr. “There is more relevance in what other consumers say than what the company is saying.”

“The strongest marketing tool is the first 20,000 people who buy the device,” Mr. Dale of Motorola said. “If they like it, they will tell their friends.”

We all know that you made your widget, you are the sole expert on its functionality, its design, and all the fancy little details, but we (as consumers) don’t care. We want to know how everyone else likes it. Does it work? Will it fill my need?

Encourage consumers to give you feedback on your products. Share that feedback where customers can see it - on your website, a comment section on product pages or mixed into email copy.

I’m not saying that we don’t trust you, we do. We just trust our friends more. Sorry.

On the same note, here’s a video I found from Microsoft recommending word of mouth marketing.