I drove past a house the other day and noticed someone had a porcelain commode placed in a flower garden in the middle of their yard. I suppose they thought it was a novel way to decorate the yard and that it would get a laugh. I just thought it was in very bad taste. There is, sometimes, a very fine line between golden and gaudy, attractive and disgusting, praiseworthy and repulsive. Is beauty in the eye of the beholder or is what is commonly called "lovely” just a part of the latest fad? There is a marketing answer to this question.

Marketing follows trends. What is hip in the culture typically makes for good marketing. Marketing is tasked with attracting and holding the attention of the people we want to buy from us. Pushing the edge of good tastes is one of the most effective ways to keep people looking at your brand. But is there a step too far? Yes, and it can be counterproductive to your marketing efforts if you trip over that line.

How do you know what is going to be held as golden marketing and what is going to be rejected as gaudy? Part of that is to understand the people who make up your target market. Their opinions are formed from three general thought processes: their Values, their Attitudes and their Choices. We define Values as deeply held beliefs. Values typically are formed in a person as a young adult and likely will not change over their lifetime. On the flip side of Values are Attitudes. Attitudes are short-term opinions that are typically shaped by popular culture. Choices are, just as they sound, the culmination of options available to your target market.

Each of these three categories impact our thinking in what we determine is good and bad. For instance, Choices help us define what is unique and what is common. I am old enough that I remember when having a private (landline) phone in your home was a very prestigious thing. What was the alternative? A party line in which several of your neighbors used the same phone line. You picked up the phone to, first, make sure one of your neighbors was not on the line before you could use it to make a call. Having someone using the same phone you are using is an absurd thought today. In fact, landlines – private or otherwise – have fallen out of vogue. Why? Because of Choice. Not only do we think phone sharing is archaic, so is not having a mobile phone for each individual person… and not a flip phone, but a Smartphone with multi-purpose computing capabilities. Choice helped each of us form this opinion.

Attitudes are changing constantly. Think of them as trending viral news. They are hot today and gone tomorrow. Values, on the other hand, are not going anywhere. They are firmly entrenched in each person. Groups often share values. This can occur within a generation or be the prevailing thought in a geographical location. People who have the same Values flock together. Your target market likely share both current Attitudes and prevailing Values. So if your marketing is going to hit home today, you want to sync up with a favorable Attitude with your target market without offending their Values. If you happen to cross a line with an Attitude, wait it out and weather your miscue. You will probably live to market another day. However, if you offend your audience by stepping on their Values, they will leave you for good. This is where marketing that pushes the limits gets into big trouble.

We live in an age where people can go from zero to outrage very quickly. It has caused some businesses to take a cautious view of marketing. But marketing that is working best will push the edge without going over it. Take the time to understand where the Value lines lie with your customers. What would offend them? What Attitudes are trending with them currently? What have their market Choices done to their opinions of your brand? Take all of this into consideration before you market to them.