As the winery executive walked down the Unified tradeshow aisle, she stopped, looked at a banner sign with a headline and declared, “that’s my problem.”
The sign said, BREAK YOUR EXCEL HABIT.
My client, Business Impact from Chapel Hill, NC consists of a team of data artisans who reimagine how companies can access data. Instead of Excel® spreadsheets everywhere, they eliminate Excel by replacing data with warehouses filled with information and then making the data available at client’s fingertips.
When a comptroller from a larger winery passed by their booth at The Unified Wine & Grape Symposium, our message resonated with her because my client and I have been listening carefully to understand a pain point.
Over the last six months, we have worked together on a variety of marketing projects, but getting the right message was critical. After listening to hours of client interviews and testimonials, I kept hearing, in different words, that this customer had been overly reliant on Excel before Business Impact appeared.
Strategy First – but Tactics can be Sticky
The image that came to my mind was that we needed to create a nicotine patch to help break their addiction.
Through discussions with my client and my partners at The Marketing Machine, we came up with a simple message but put it on a pack of chewing gum (think Nicotine gum instead of a Nicotine patch).
Our various communications activities were well written, designed and did a great job of delivering our message. But the little pack of gum that we handed out helped to reinforce our message in a fun, playful way. This pack of gum will also be part of a direct mail piece too.
When you can humanize a strategy with a tactic that makes your point, BOOM, the message is reinforced and easily remembered. And everytime that comptroller takes a piece of gum, she will remember our message and be actively chewing on how my client can help.
The best ideas tend to be simple but on strategy.
Chew on that for a moment.
Do you have enough creative juices to get your brand popping? I can help. 919 720 0995 or email me at jeffslater@themarketingsage.com – set up an appointment to talk on my calendar.
Photo courtesy of The Marketing Sage
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