A new commercial airing on local television caught my attention. The spokesperson stands in the middle of a ripped up street. All around her are piles of dirt. No blacktop can be seen. The place looks a mess. Driving the main street is impossible. Parking appears to be a challenge. Walking looks difficult. She says that the downtown street is under construction, but businesses are open during construction. Come downtown and support these businesses. They need your money to survive.
Basically, she says that the businesses need revenue so frequent them.
The first time I saw this commercial I had two reactions. My first was what a mess! I’m not going downtown for a while. My second was that was the wrong way to address a bad situation.
We all know that periodically streets need work. When that happens, business suffers. The street work takes away convenient and easy access for the customers. Customers like convenient and easy. They do not like inconvenient and difficult. They will avoid inconvenient and difficult in order to seek convenient and easy. Showing customers inconvenient and difficult will not encourage them to come to the businesses. More likely, those images will keep customers away.
I’m all for telling the truth in marketing. In an instance such as this, though, I would not make the inconvenience and difficulty the focus of the message. Instead, an effective message would focus on what’s in it for the customer to do business with the businesses downtown. Customers always buy because they will get that they want. They do not buy because a business will get what it wants.
A series of downtown cashmobs could have encouraged business more successfully than these images of ripped up streets. Cashmobs are a call to action among consumers. They react strongly and positively to cashmobs. They tell their friends. They feel that cashmobs are a call for help. Their participation helps to rescue a local business. That makes customers feel good. As a result, the business being mobbed receives much more revenue than expected. A cashmob of two or three businesses per week for a series of weeks would focus on the businesses and bring them needed revenue.
The driving, parking, and walking situation could have been minimized by showing easy, alternative ways to access the businesses during the construction. Present this as a new experience for customers. They can take a path to these businesses that they have not taken before or at least for a long time. This could be made to be fun and turned into an interactive activity with customers. Customers love interactive. That’s why they like cashmobs.
When your business faces a situation which creates inconvenience and difficulty for your customers, think through what’s in it for your customer to do business with you. How can you take away the inconvenience? How can you involve your customer? How can you create fun out of the situation?
This week's marketing trivia challenge is What have you seen a business do to create ease and convenience for customers? E-mail me your answer.
Basically, she says that the businesses need revenue so frequent them.
The first time I saw this commercial I had two reactions. My first was what a mess! I’m not going downtown for a while. My second was that was the wrong way to address a bad situation.
We all know that periodically streets need work. When that happens, business suffers. The street work takes away convenient and easy access for the customers. Customers like convenient and easy. They do not like inconvenient and difficult. They will avoid inconvenient and difficult in order to seek convenient and easy. Showing customers inconvenient and difficult will not encourage them to come to the businesses. More likely, those images will keep customers away.
I’m all for telling the truth in marketing. In an instance such as this, though, I would not make the inconvenience and difficulty the focus of the message. Instead, an effective message would focus on what’s in it for the customer to do business with the businesses downtown. Customers always buy because they will get that they want. They do not buy because a business will get what it wants.
A series of downtown cashmobs could have encouraged business more successfully than these images of ripped up streets. Cashmobs are a call to action among consumers. They react strongly and positively to cashmobs. They tell their friends. They feel that cashmobs are a call for help. Their participation helps to rescue a local business. That makes customers feel good. As a result, the business being mobbed receives much more revenue than expected. A cashmob of two or three businesses per week for a series of weeks would focus on the businesses and bring them needed revenue.
The driving, parking, and walking situation could have been minimized by showing easy, alternative ways to access the businesses during the construction. Present this as a new experience for customers. They can take a path to these businesses that they have not taken before or at least for a long time. This could be made to be fun and turned into an interactive activity with customers. Customers love interactive. That’s why they like cashmobs.
When your business faces a situation which creates inconvenience and difficulty for your customers, think through what’s in it for your customer to do business with you. How can you take away the inconvenience? How can you involve your customer? How can you create fun out of the situation?
This week's marketing trivia challenge is What have you seen a business do to create ease and convenience for customers? E-mail me your answer.
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