I don’t watch reality TV. However, when I was in Starbucks this morning, a young woman behind the counter was talking to her co-worker and said, the reason she loves to watch Real Housewives of New York is that it makes her feel so much better about her life. Like a sponge, she soaks up the show and it leaves her elated with her life. Sometimes problem-solving surprises us.
It never occurred to me that a reality show could have the opposite effect of making people happy that they weren’t like the characters in the show. Imagine that a reality show can solve the problem of making you feel good about yourself because your life isn’t the one depicted on the TV.
The barista’s comments weren’t what I’d expected. I never thought that if you watch some crazy people in ridiculous situations, you will feel much better about your ordinary, everyday life. Don’t people use entertainment to escape their reality?
Unexpected Problem-Solving
When new clients hire me to help them with their marketing, I like to plunge into the deep end of the pool to understand why their best customers engage them and what problem they solve. I want to look for a counterintuitive clue that might lead me to an unexpected insight. I initially ignore things like price, service, or a variety of offerings. I want to get to a deeper level of motivation in the form of an image, analogy or metaphor.
Whether it is a product or a service, if you keep digging a little deeper, you’ll uncover deep-seated emotional drivers that stimulate why someone does business with you. An image is an invaluable piece of information because it can help you construct your message and marketing communications effort.
Why, Why, Why
The lesson I take away is that people don’t buy what you sell (shoes, books, lawn care services), they buy how you make them feel after using your product or service. Safe. Elated. Protected. Comforted. Connected. Beloved. Problem-solving goes beyond the transaction.
A recent client talked about how they take the burden, risk, and liability and absorb it, so their clients don’t have to add that to their daily challenges. We absorb their load.
They absorb the pain, the complexity, and all of the worry that goes with the work they do.
As I kept hearing the word absorb, the analogy that came to mind is that my client is like a sponge. They absorb all the pain and help their clients avoid unnecessary problems. Extra absorbent to suck up all the hazardous spills that seep out of business each day.
We will be using the sponge image and analogy in our marketing because it helps to express how people will feel, squeezing away wet-worry from themselves onto a sponge.
When you can find an analogy to help you express a feeling, it is easy to begin to tell your company’s story. Analogies help in elevator pitches and in creating an image in the mind of potential customers to help them buy.
Whose worries will you be soaking up this month?
You can set up a time to chat with me about your marketing challenges using my calendar. Email me jeffslater@themarketingsage.com Call me. 919 720 0995. Visit my website at www.themarketingsage.com The conversation is free, and we can explore working together.
Photo: Pixaby
