MOB #11: The Marketing Mindset

Two quick things about the marketing mindset.

1. I recently heard this and wanted to share it with you. I don’t remember who said it, but it is totally true. In marketing, your job is NOT to convince people that they need your product or service. It is to remind them of the need that they already have, remind them of the personal importance of taking action on that need now (the ramifications if they ignore it), and then to show them why your solution is their best option.

2. People have all sorts of problems. Some are urgent right now and some have been put on the back burner or simply ignored. This doesn’t make them any less real.

Many marketers will tell you to focus on benefits, which you do want to include, but not as the leader or attention getter and here’s why: a benefits based headline will only get the attention of those people that feel the urgency of that particular need right now.
Almost all other messages, including benefits based headlines, will likely be brushed over.

Besides, people are problem seekers and solvers. It is part of our survival mechanisms to keep our awareness high to potential problems and protect ourselves against them. We are also crisis-centered beings unfortunately. We will often let problems lie until they reach the crisis point, and then we’ll quickly and decisively take action.

Your marketing message needs to remind people of the problems that are lying off to the side and bring it to the front of their consciousness, thus adding the urgency to take action now.

I once heard Dan Kennedy speak at a large conference and this is how he described his marketing flow:

Problem-Problem. Here you bring up the problem and then raise the awareness to the problem and its potential impact on the prospect’s life.

Problem-Solution. Here you connect the problem to the general solution that will solve the problem.

Solution-Solution. Here you guide the prospect from the general solution to the specific solution that you are offering.

The real beauty of this approach is that it builds in the urgency that would otherwise need to be ‘created’ by you via a limited time offer, limited quantity, etc. This approach has the urgency already piqued before you’re going for the close. Remember, problem-solution is the theme, and of course you’ll carry on about the benefits once you’ve introduced the solution. Don’t do it at the start though. Get their attention first.