What turns heads in your marketing? What makes people give your brand a
second look? Marketing is given the task of catching the attention of potential
customers. What does it take to make that happen?

Marketers have tried some pretty “out-there” gimmicks to make people
notice their brand. Absurdity, edgy humor, sensuality, shock-baited one-liners,
exaggerated headlines, outrageous pop culture icons, talking animals… you name
it – no matter how freakish it is, it’s been done in marketing. The truth is,
all of these work. We all have a hard time looking away from the astounding
extremes of sensationalism. Where is the line that is struck between good
marketing attention grabbers and bad taste? The answer to that depends upon
your target market. What do they consider in good taste and bad taste?

There are two major pitfalls marketers fall into when building a
campaign to turn heads. The first is stepping out of sync with their customers’
values. I remember not too many years ago, a major sporting goods brand
switched its marketing to include a very controversial personality as its
spokesperson. Their new representative held the polar opposite position than I
did. Guess what? The brand managers weren’t after me as a customer, they were
after teens and twenty-somethings – I was too old for them! The new icon of
their brand did very well with this younger set. So they were successful in
getting their target market to pay attention to their marketing. But it came at
the expense of their old customer base – like me! Guess what I did? I took my
business to their competitor. I’ve never bought another thing from them – I
probably never will! They offended me. Here is the fine line we tread as
marketers: can you get to the edge of what is still within the lines of good
taste with your old customers and still be relevant to an expanded demographic
you are targeting? Customers are fickle. They can love you one day and hate you
the next, especially if you step over that line of good taste.

The second pitfall has to do with over-promising and under-delivering.
In order to turn heads, marketers have made claims about their brand beyond
what it can actually provide consumers. Integrity matters in marketing, and
those who violate the trust of consumers will garner their wrath. People will
ravage a brand that cannot do what it claims. A brand that consumers deem to
have poor quality, is too expensive for the value of the product, is not
delivered when expected or is dragged down by woeful customer service will be
castigated by the market. The very thing used to boost the brand’s image will
actually tear it to pieces if you go too far with your head-turning marketing
strategies. Keep your marketing within the confines of what can be claimed and
backed up.

Marketing is tasked with turning heads to take a second look at your
brand. That sounds easier than it really is at times. Make sure you are
considering your customers when you make any creative claims about your brand.
Also keep your marketing true to what you can actually deliver and you will
avoid the pitfalls.