AMiable Solution #119: The Smaller Picture

Ever feel overwhelmed by the demands of new and changing marketing technologies?  Longing for simpler marketing ways?  Here’s a time-tested marketing truth to fall back on: the 80/20 Rule.

Also known as the Pareto Principle, the idea behind the 80/20 Rule is this: a small percentage impacts the vast majority.  Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, after whom the principle is named, found this to be true of land in Italy in 1906: at the time, 80% of the land was owned by 20% of the population.

But marketers have found truth in the principle, too.   Eighty percent of your sales likely comes from 20% of your customers.  If you haven’t reviewed your list of top customers or donors, make it an annual exercise.  Then, make those customers a priority. 

Why spend so much effort on such a small percentage of your customer base?  Because they’re the best of the best.  The ones who know your organization and trust your service.  The repeat and frequent customers who are just waiting for you to send them another offer.

But don’t let your thinking stop there.  Identifying and marketing to your top customers is a great strategy, but it’s not the only use of the 80/20 Rule.  Once you know who your top customers are, don’t just market to them.  Study them.  Examine their buying habits and their characteristics so you can find new customers that are just like them.

AMiable Solution #118: The Key to the Sale

People buy benefits, not features.  They invest in something when they know what the return is, when they know what’s in it for them.

Unfortunately, we sometimes get blinded by our own knowledge of the products or services our organizations offer.  We assume customers, members, donors, or prospects can “connect the dots” between information we provide them (the features) and their own needs or interests.  But that can be a mistake.

According to Laura Clampitt Douglas, CEO of MAX International Converters Inc. and president of Small Business Marketing Analysis, often what we think is a benefit is really just an extension of a feature or a more detailed description of the feature.  In her December 2000 article, “Marketing Features Vs. Benefits,” for Entrepreneur magazine, Clampitt Douglas suggests that marketers think of “benefits” in terms of “results.”  For example, Clampitt Douglas says, “When someone chooses a VCR with a self-setting clock, the assumption is that the benefit is convenience, but the actual results are that they don't have to read the instructions, watch a blinking 12:00, and, most important, feel stupid. Those results are the true benefits.”

So how do you see beyond the facts of your product to the “benefits” and “results”?  Start with each of your features and imagine them in a client setting.  How would your clients use each feature?  Why would they use them?  What would make them use those features again?  What’s in it for them?

That said, don’t eliminate identifying your product’s or service’s features.  Decisions often start with the factual “what’s in the box,” particularly when customers are comparing one product or one company against another.  But choices are made when marketers translate “what’s in the box” into “what’s in it for me?”  Argue your case for every key feature so your prospect has no choice but to say, “Ahh, yes!  That’s what I need.”

AMiable Solution #117: What Do You Spend the Most Time On?

When you’re working on a new marketing campaign, how do you prioritize your time: copy, graphics, format?  It’s easy to get caught up in the details of the marketing vehicle, whether an online ad, email, brochure, letter, catalog, or postcard.  Although those things are incredibly important, they aren’t the most influential factors for inciting response. 

Ed Mayer, marketing expert, developed a principle of marketing design known as the 40/40/20 rule.  Mayer realized--and countless marketers after him have discovered--that the actual implementation of the campaign is the smallest part of the marketing pie.  Size, shape, paper weight, copy, etc., surely matter, but they don’t have as big an impact on response as audience and offer.  According to the 40/40/20 rule, 40% of your marketing campaign success depends on your audience, 40% depends on your offer, and 20% depends on everything else, including presentation and format.

Does that mean you shouldn’t spend much time on the design of your promotion?  Absolutely not.  It just means that that killer copy you wrote and that perfect photo you incorporated won’t do you much good if you’re not designing for a targeted, highly-scrutinized audience and creating around an intriguing, can’t-pass-it-up offer.