To me, marketing is all about connecting. Too often we think of marketing at advertising or sales. But (speaking as a marketer) it's so much more than that. Like a thread, it runs through so many aspects of our business and/or ministy.
Keeping a fresh coat of paint on all the buildings is good marketing. Baking fresh bread for dinner is good marketing. Answering the phone with a smile is good marketing. You get the idea. Marketing–connecting with people is everywhere.
Today, I included this clip of Dylan singing Like a Rolling Stone in my presentation this morning to the Allegheny Section of our association (CCCA). It occurred to me while I was listening to the words of this song that he must have been completely connecting witht the generation of his day. I mean, wow. How many kids sitting at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965 heard the words to that song and just said, "this guy KNOWS ME!" Here are the words to the chorus, just in case you don't know…
How does it feel
How does it feel
To be without a home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?
How does it feel
To be without a home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?
With lyrics like that it's no wonder he identified with a whole generation of young people. If good marketing is all about connecting, then is it any wonder that you're not connecting with your tribe when the only things you talk about in the brochure or on your website are things that matter to you?
One of the main traps that marketers fall into is marketing themselves. You must remember, you are not marketing to you. You have got to (as the Wizard would say) talk to the dog, in the language of the dog, about the things the dog cares about.
Here's how Dylan did it…
I think that Bob Dylan reached so many people because his “marketing” was effortless. I mean, he connected with his audience because he felt what they were feeling, and really really cared about what they cared about. I think that audiences have a pretty good sense of what is real and what is phony, and that no amount of good marketing will reach an audience the way that genuine common feeling will. I think your advice about brochures, etc. is right on, but I would add that if you’re not connecting with your audience, the answer is not to try to speak to their interests, but rather to make those interests your own.
You’re exactly right Molly. It’s hard to lead a tribe you have no affinity for and it’s hard to fake true care and concern. The best connectors are the ones who can truly feel at the gut level what their audience feels and can effectively put words to those feelings. Dylan and Kerouac both had it. U2 and Coldplay have it. Obama has it.