How unique is your business? In marketing, we are constantly
beating the drum for customers to stand out in a crowd. We say wise things such
as, "if you look like everyone else, you will find you are just competing on
price, not your quality,” or "if you blend, you’re bland…and no one likes
bland.” But just how far can you push the uniqueness button in marketing your
business? Is there a line you can cross over that makes you so "out there” that
no one wants to buy anything from you?
Where the "in good taste” line is drawn
When you are trying to market your company or its products
as being unique, you will need to toe the line of good taste without crossing
it. We live in an outspoken society. Everyone has an opinion and, with a
plethora of places to voice their distaste, they will deposit complaints. If
your target market is repulsed by the method you are using to capture their
attention, they will turn on you, you can count on it. But just where is that
line? Can anything be said that is not offensive to someone? What one person
thinks is repulsive is extremely humorous to the next. For instance, watch this
Doritos commercial, which was pulled from playing on TV during the 2012 Super
Bowl. Do
you find it funny or repugnant? With social media being what it is today, Frito
Lay has allowed this Doritos commercial to run on YouTube, but pulled it from
airing on network TV. Why? They know that YouTube is an opt-in social network,
whereas the TV network is not. In other words, if I am going to see this
commercial on YouTube, I will have to seek it out or click on a link that one
of my friends has sent to me. If running over the lady for a bag of Doritos is
your kind of humor, you will "lol” and then send it to your friends who are
likely to think like you do and find it funny too. This is social network
marketing at its best. The ad will go viral and a rather macabre ad will score
big branding points with you and your network of friends. However, putting it
on network TV for everyone to see was too far over the line for general
consumption. This all comes down to understanding your target market and the segments
within those markets.
Of course not every company has followed this plan. One of
the most criticized ad campaigns of the past few months has been that of coupon
giant Groupon. They have taken heat over their ads featuring celebrities
talking about awareness of social issues which quickly turns, mildly poking fun
at the issue to push Groupon’s discount coupon programs. Take a look here. It is hard
to understand who would find humor in making fun of oppressed Tibetans.
Out of bounds lines
There are several lines that are certain to offend people
and should be steered away from in your marketing efforts. Making light of
religion, ethnicity, race, and all those other basic civil rights is clearly
out of bounds. Unless you are running for public office, getting political in
your marketing will land you in hot water as well. You may hold very strong
opinions in these areas. You may even have a values-based business model. That
is all great. I encourage you to stand on your principles. But once you make it
part of your marketing so that you show prejudice against the other side, you
have stepped out of bounds. You will lose customers and you will lose market
share. Outside of politics, religion, and civil rights, what else should be
considered out of bounds? That would depend upon your target audience. What
does the group think is over the line? How much protestation from groups
outside your target are you willing to handle? Will the sales to one group
outweigh offending a group outside your target market? Take a look at this ad
for Nike that ran a dozen years ago.
For many women’s rights groups, this was over the line. But the audience was
not the women who made up these groups. The target was teenagers who crowded to
a number of slasher movies, who would find this familiar, provocative and
effective in gaining their business. However, the protests against this ad were
very loud and Nike pulled it. That is why you probably don’t remember it. What
Nike came to realize is that even though they were trying to sell shoes to
teenagers, they had a wide product line that would suffer if they were labeled
a corporation that promoted violence towards women.
Back to being boring?
With the myriad of opinions that are boiling up
like Vesuvius over what is acceptable and what is not, what can you do? Can
there be any creative license in marketing? Can there be any pushing of the
line to grasp the attention of your audience or are we resigned to being boring
in our marketing efforts? If you are going to stand out, you need to have a
clear message of how you are unique compared to your competition. In an ocean
of marketing messages, you have to be creative to get anyone to notice you.
This is where having good, solid creative types who also have sound business
minds come into play. The point of being creative and of pushing the line is to
make sure you get the attention of your target audience. If your marketing is
creative, but fails to gain anyone’s attention, it becomes little more than a
pretty picture. One of the best things you can do is to test your marketing
with a group that represents your target. First question: does my marketing
resonate with these people? If it works with some, but not all, have I
identified a subset group within the larger group that I could market to in
this way, but would need to find a different method for the group at large?
Second question: do they remember what is being promoted here? Do they identify
with my brand? Do they understand what is unique about this brand by my
marketing efforts? Third question: are they likely to purchase from me? The
bottom line of marketing is to drive you to a sale. If it is not working, you
have to change messages, methods or maybe both.