What Makes You Memorable?
Marketing is a game of being memorable.
Of creating experiences that differentiate you from other brands.
But there are some marketing "rules" that distract you from that. So today, it being April Fool's Day and all, I thought it would make sense to explore what does - and what DOESN'T - make a brand memorable. No jokes 😉
Let's Start With The 4 P's of Marketing
The 4 P's are something EVERYONE is taught in any kind of marketing program. For the non-marketers reading this, they are:
Product
Pricing
Placement
Promotion
(or some variation of those).
Now, sure. These are all things that CAN drive a marketing program towards memorability. But they can EQUALLY hold you back. Let's explore.
Product
Oh how the tech world loves this one. I hear all the time how a product is, "solving a problem in a new way", or "the only one in the market that does X", or "has x% more features than Product Y".
And they're probably all true.
And that doesn't mean that people KNOW they exist. Or have the problem they solve. Or have the budget to solve.
Also, a product is always a THING. And customers - especially B2B customers - don't really get attached to a THING.
So, while Tracy might be super attached to her Pink Headphones as an individual, TLB Coaching isn't nearly as attached to our video chat provider. Or website host. Or payment processing provider.
And most other B2B companies aren't EITHER.
So when marketing consists primarily of product features, we decrease the opportunity for a PERSON to become attached to our brand.
And we see that reflected in the memorability of things.
Anyone care what happened to GoToMeeting?
Can you remember the brand name of the last pack of paper you bought?
Yeah, I thought not.
Unless a PERSON has a PERSONAL experience with a product (think how we hang on to teddy bears from childhood), a product is JUST a product. No inherent memorability.
Pricing
Pricing is such a huge conversation in marketing. And it's not that it's not important, but how does it play into memorability.
Let's say you go into Walmart and you're trying to find the cheapest yellow toy car for your niece (a recent excursion for me). Do you think that I remember the brand?
Heck no.
I know it wasn't a trusty brand though. It wasn't Matchbox or Hot Wheels.
And the mirrors promptly broke off 5 minutes into playing with it.
Low price is almost NEVER memorable. Because we're not going into something to make a memory. We're going into it to be cheap.
So yes, there are always people who will choose the lowest cost option. The question is, do you want people choosing you THAT way? Or a different way?
You know one thing that DOES stand out for me when I think of pricing for something? Things that seem EXPENSIVE.
My good friend Filip Fucic (pricing expert), wrote The Book on pricing. It didn't get sold on Amazon for $1. It's something like $600. It's a text book pretty much.
The price is memorable because it makes me think there HAS to be good value in there. Even if I didn't know Filip so well, it would stand out.
It would stand out as a Valuable Brand.
Low prices aren't memorable.
But a price that actually calls your attention to doing things differently? Now that does.
Placement
We used to always refer to this as place; back in the day of in-person, product-centric businesses. You can compare this to the common saying, "Location, Location, Location".
But what does that even mean in the digital space?
Most people will consider their Website their digital Location. So let's go with that for this part of the conversation.
Riddle me this; think of one of your FAVORITE brands....
Can you tell me ANYTHING about their website?
One of my favorite brands is Disney. And I couldn't tell you a single thing about what's on their website. I don't even know if they have one central website.
And why can't I tell you anything about it?
Because it doesn't play ANY role in my relationship with a brand.
A lot of people and businesses put a LOT of resources into their website. Companies pay tens of thousands of dollars to re-do or re-brand their website to see no meaningful impact. And why?
Because the activities happening on your website are NOT creating memories for people. But more importantly...
The OTHER activities you are doing aren't creating enough memorability for people to WANT to go to your website.
And in the long run, no one EVER needs to go to MOST websites to do business with a company. So, why would people take an extra step if that's unnecessary?
They answer is, they WON'T.
And it doesn't mean they wont BUY.
It just means that Placement doesn't actually have THAT much impact on the buying decision.
Promotion
Ok, so it HAS to be Promotion that carries all the weight for memories, right?
Wrong.
Ever have those moments where you kind of remember an ad but have no idea who the ad is for?
Or what about those surveys on YouTube that pop up asking you what ads you've seen? You remember all of them right?
Of course you don't.
And why?
Because most ads aren't created with the intention of being Memorable.
They're created to be created. They're created to be catchy. They're created to "match our brand". And no one remembers them.
Good thing you paid all that money to distribute them, though.
No. Promotion for the sake of promotion will not lead to creating a memory for your target audience. Just like NONE of the 4 P's will.
So, what does?
The Intention of Bring Memorable
Weird, my content comes back to intentionality...again 🤣
It seems like it's the secret to all things that people keep missing.
What would your Product look like if it was created to be memorable?
What would your Pricing Strategy look like if it was going to be memorable?
What Place would you choose if you wanted to be memorable?
What Promotional Strategy would you choose if you wanted to be memorable?
And HOW does that look DIFFERENT from what you are doing today?
In Summary
You can 100% take away the above 5 questions and create an intentional marketing strategy that will create memorability for you in your market. But most companies won't. Not because the questions aren't available...
...but because it's actually pretty difficult to extrapolate what is going to be memorable.
It's something you have to test.
It's something you have to fail at.
It's something you have to test again.
And it's something you continue to learn towards.
That process👆 only happens when you have:
An Authentic Intention, and
Someone to hold you accountable to it.
And THAT👆 , my friends, is where a good Strategic Marketing Advisor comes in.
Luckily for you, I happen to be one 😎
So if you're ready to make your marketing program memorable, let's chat!
