Have you ever bought a product or service based on a marketing campaign only to find out the purchase did not live up to its billing? My guess is we all have at one time or another. If you are in charge of marketing, how do you keep from overselling your products and services, yet capture the attention of your target market?

Marketing makes very bold statements about brands. It is the job of marketing to put the brand's best foot forward. Typically this is done with a campaign tagline (a.k.a. a slogan) that is pithy and memorable. We hope to use words that will stick in the minds of consumers so that they define our brand by the slogan. We position products and services as the best, the highest quality, the most effective, etc. When you think about what you are selling, I would imagine you have made claims about it similar to these. However, are those slogans true or are they just a bunch of empty words? If you can back up your marketing claims in those campaigns, you have given your target market a reason to buy from you.

Here is a three-step process to help you make your marketing campaigns more than just talk.

Say it to make your brand distinct

Whenever you are building a successful marketing campaign, your slogan has to do two very important tasks: it has to meet the wants of your target market and it has to make a distinction between you and your competition. First, define your target market. To whom are you selling? Next, make a list of how your product or service can help them solve a problem or make life easier. Next, draw up a Unique Selling Proposition. This is a statement that defines what you are doing better to meet the customers’ needs than your competition. From there, create your campaign slogan. Here is a tip: if your campaign slogan can be added to your competitor’s logo and it is true of them as it is for you, you have not made any distinction in the words you have used. You need to start over.

Show it to the customer

It is not enough just to state your marketing slogan, you have to show what you are saying is true. This will tie your slogan directly to your work. Some ways to do this are to post customer satisfaction testimonials, write case studies where the use of your product or service solved a problem for a client or use demonstrations of your brand at venues that attract consumers (i.e. trade shows, lunch and learns, live point-of-purchase locations – think grocery store samples, etc). If you can show your customer not only how your product works, but how effective it is when it works, you will have something to back up your words.

Back it up

There is nothing more frustrating to a consumer than when something you have just purchased does not live up to its billing. It fails to work or maybe just not as well as it was marketed. If you want to be effective in marketing, you have to understand the connection between quality control and marketing. If your marketing has oversold your products and services, many would argue that you need to back off your marketing. However, I would say you need to work on your product and elevate it to meet the expectations of your customers. No one likes to buy junk.