This is my territory. I am a believer. For most people there is one good, well-crafted message you can relay in which you write your way into their heart. Case in point:
“We smuggled this salsa across the border. It would have arrived sooner had we not stopped in Tahoe to hit some fresh powder.” – Barracuda Taqueria Menu, Seattle, WA
My state of mind when I read this: Oh, God, I’m desperate for some good friggin’ tacos with really good salsa! Desperate as in…I am going to move back to Texas and go on a month-long taco binge if someone doesn’t help me out here. Does no one in Seattle understand the importance of a good taco?!
But alas, someone does. This someone even understands exactly what I needed to know about their product that makes it so special. Translation:
The salsa is fresh, it’s fiery and we would be shot before adding catsup, sugar or anything that mildly resembles Pace. Also, it’s bold and it takes its time to marinate. Good things are worth the wait. Please note that this brazen menu statement would not have meant anything if the restaurateur couldn’t deliver on the promise.
Some thoughts while writing your way into someone’s heart:
• Engage me, entice me, enchant me, and even infuriate me if it will make me remember you.
• Don’t worry if they don’t get it. They weren’t the ones you were targeting anyways.
• Write fearlessly as if you suspect someone will try to edit you for too much sass.
• Be brief. I’m constantly working on this one. It’s a doozie.
• “Be bold, be bold, and everywhere be bold.” – Herbert Spencer
I studied to be a copywriter then I studied the art of the scripted media message. None of it felt right. If I couldn’t generate the heart to put into it how could I expect to produce authenticity? I find authenticity in the post-it messages I leave on my bathroom mirror…and hope they find their way into someone’s heart.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
Nature's Impressive Marketers
It's the first legitimately warm week in Seattle this year and the flush of warmer air has me all excited. It also has me thinking dotingly on the flowers and herb garden that Mike and I have started on our patio. Me, a gardener? Hardly! I give Mike 95% of the credit. But I also keep an all-too-keen eye on these little seedlings that have grown into full blown adults to make sure they are getting their daily TLC.
Why should you care, and what does this have to do with marketing and business potential? Everything. It dawned on me when I was watching Discovery Channel's "Plant" edition of "Life" yesterday evening.
Plants are the ultimate marketers and survivalists, just like a good business. They find crazy ways to defeat the odds and come out on top and in shining, radiant color. (Now I sound like Oprah narrating "Life".) Here's the way it translates in my little business mind. Plants as marketers are:
Entrepreneurs - Making a livelihood of starting lots of smaller offshoots and nurturing them to adulthood.
Weather the Seasons - Knowing when to lie dormant and conserve resources, and when to grow like hell!
Climbers - No mercy for anything that might stand in the way. Stretch and grow or be leapfrogged by the stronger branch and find yourself entangled in their mess.
Enticing Marketers - Knowing how to put out out a beautiful "flower" to entice your target market. It's like entrapment, but in a good way. There is usually a win-win, unless you happen to be a Venus Fly Trap.
Strategic Developers - Sun-seeking and opportunity-seeking are one in the same. You have to grow toward the light at the end of the tunnel.
Internal Promotion Buffs - Understanding that the strongest and most active rise to the top but EVERYONE starts at the ground level (There are no shortcuts by the way. You may think there are, but jumping to the top without putting in the work yields weak roots.)
That said, I'd like to introduce you to a few garden stores in and around Seattle that helped provide the raw material I needed to see this lesson come to life.
Why should you care, and what does this have to do with marketing and business potential? Everything. It dawned on me when I was watching Discovery Channel's "Plant" edition of "Life" yesterday evening.
Plants are the ultimate marketers and survivalists, just like a good business. They find crazy ways to defeat the odds and come out on top and in shining, radiant color. (Now I sound like Oprah narrating "Life".) Here's the way it translates in my little business mind. Plants as marketers are:
Entrepreneurs - Making a livelihood of starting lots of smaller offshoots and nurturing them to adulthood.
Weather the Seasons - Knowing when to lie dormant and conserve resources, and when to grow like hell!
Climbers - No mercy for anything that might stand in the way. Stretch and grow or be leapfrogged by the stronger branch and find yourself entangled in their mess.
Enticing Marketers - Knowing how to put out out a beautiful "flower" to entice your target market. It's like entrapment, but in a good way. There is usually a win-win, unless you happen to be a Venus Fly Trap.
Strategic Developers - Sun-seeking and opportunity-seeking are one in the same. You have to grow toward the light at the end of the tunnel.
Internal Promotion Buffs - Understanding that the strongest and most active rise to the top but EVERYONE starts at the ground level (There are no shortcuts by the way. You may think there are, but jumping to the top without putting in the work yields weak roots.)
That said, I'd like to introduce you to a few garden stores in and around Seattle that helped provide the raw material I needed to see this lesson come to life.
- City Peoples (http://www.citypeoples.com/)
- Bellevue Nursery (http://www.bellevuenursery.com/)
- Sky Nursery (http://www.skynursery.com/)
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