Step Right Up
In the song Step Right Up, Tom Waits’ traveling salesman character blurts out a number of increasingly outlandish promises about his products and services.
The song is a homage to the type of advertising slogans that were fairly commonplace throughout the second half of the 20th century - albeit slightly exaggerated, of course.
“It quits smoking. It’s a friend. It’s a companion. It’s the only product you will ever need.”
“It finds you a job. It is a job!”
For a long time marketing and advertising was a bit like this. The product itself was the hero of the story rather than the customer.
The product was miraculous. It was life-changing.
How could prospects possibly live without it?
The winner in advertising was typically the brand that shouted the loudest, rather than the brand that cared the most.
In the past, marketers weren’t interested in the hopes, dreams, and fears of their prospects and customers. That wasn’t really important. The products and services would sell themselves.
But these days the balance of power has shifted significantly. The consumer has more choice and more information than ever. They also have sky-high expectations.
This is particularly true of Millennials and Generation Z consumers who have grown up with a smartphone in their pocket and with brands that routinely show them that they care about the same things that they care about.
A marketer is curious about other people
Because of this evolution in the way that the modern consumer thinks and behaves, smart brands now realise that caring about customers leads to more effective content.
As Seth Godin puts it in his most recent book, This is Marketing, “a marketer is curious about other people.”
“She wonders about what others are struggling with, what makes them tick. She’s fascinated by their dreams and their beliefs.”
Successful marketing (which these days increasingly means content) now requires that you care about your prospects and customers. It’s about serving them; providing them with useful information that will help them to achieve their own goals.
They’ll respect and trust you for providing them with this information. And in return they’ll be much more likely to become customers or, if they’re existing customers, to stay with you.
The shouty, traveling salesman method of old doesn’t work anymore. Instead of the hard sell, your content should be focused on solving the types of problems that your prospects and customers might have.
Targeting worldviews
The average customer or prospect consumes a vast amount of content every day. By the time they arrive at the office in the morning, they might already have consumed a few emails and articles. They might have spent about 10 minutes scrolling their Twitter feed, and then moved on to check out what their friends got up to at the weekend via Instagram Stories.
This is content that they’ve pre-approved. It’s content that they want to read.
Your content is competing for precious attention with this pre-approved content. To make it through, it doesn’t only have to be compelling and engaging; it also has to make sense in your customer’s world. It has to fit with their worldview.
That’s why it’s essential to write content with a specific buyer persona or character in mind. If you already know what motivates or worries your ideal customer, it’s much more likely that the content you write will connect with them and engage them.
It’s time to start caring about customers
If your content can demonstrate to your customers and prospects that you genuinely care about helping them, it will set you apart from competitors who are still relying on shouty adverts claiming miracles.
So, don’t delay! Act now! Step right up! But just, you know, in a caring way.
I help brands to understand who their ideal customer is. Then I write compelling content that connects with them across the buyer journey.
You can find out more about my services here.