That was intersting an article that seemed to boast effectiveness in a marketing concept that really had very little to say! I was expecting a positioning light bulb to come on but instead found it was very similiar to the problems addressed in the article. Hmmm?

Hi Matt,

It’s coming. It’s the first of multi-part blog on the subject–meant to introduce positioning and “set the table” for illustrating its potency and application in marketing strategies and campaigns. Stay tuned.

You bring up an excellent point. Using a shotgun approach to advertising is definitively not an effective use of marketing dollars. Even with the wealth of information available online that says otherwise, small and large businesses alike still fall victim and unwisely invest time and money targeting an audience that doesn’t particularly care about or understand their offering. Segmentation will help you reach the right prospects- but positioning is the real key to attracting and resonating with your target audience.

Roy - again, very interesting read here.

I cannot help but thinking of the salesman parallel here. When I had started out in the messaging space, I was in Manhattan…the “land of opportunity”…at the time, my organization was the pioneer in broadcast fax messaging (Xpedite). There was a window of opportunity where the value prop was conceptual…not everyone had been faxing at the time and it was still a very new concept. I recall pitching to the AAA (American Arbitration Association)..very large building adjacent to Bryant Park..very ominous target for me…proportionate to the opportunity. I had met with my contact and went right into my pitch (laden with features) only to watch him kick his chair back, put his feet up, and open a newspaper right in front of me. Here is the interesting item to note…HE NEEDED what I was pitching but simply did not appreciate the means with which I went about positioning it…it begs the question, even if we are in the vein of segmentation and being relevant, have we considered the human/buyer variable? I feel this variable is the wildcard…the hardest to traverse and understand…moreover, how do we sell through it.

I keep going back to the “Jerry Maguire” model of less is more…a more customized approach…a more intimate approach. In todays times, we are all very much like the agency within that film…convert more, bring on more customers…streamline business process so that we can make room for more clients, etc. In all of that, we are left with what could be a VERY commoditized/generic approach to marketing or selling in general.

It was also back in those Manhattan days that I was surrounded by the gnarled veterans that came from one of 2 schools of thought: crush the phones and sell on price (this was typically more prominent once the “concpetual sale” wore off and more competitors filled out space) versus the niche/intellgent salemsan that jumped into ROI almost immediately. I like to think of the Ad space as being one of these sales floors…where today, and the economy has alot to do with it, we are predominantly of the “crush the phones” ilk versus taking the time (in the Jerry Maguire model) to understand the needs of the prospect and position our wares accordingly.

Again, if everyone can slow down and take the “peppers and rogers” approach and actually implement the proper use of data with less sends, they may realize a larger impact from the email channel…but trying to sell that concept almost always fails…it is apparent that there is a natural tendency to want to just “get it out”..when we look at who is reading wheat we are sending, we are almost always deflated…the reaction therefore should not be to send more (which it almost always is…) but to send less, more powerful/intimate copy to those of interest.

Jennifer said it very well “even with the wealth ofinformation available onlione..small and large business still fall victim” to this “disease”.

I think the market has alot to do with the frantic pace and the poor practices in email marketing these days…it will take patience to work through it but the change of pace will be worth the pain.

again, great piece.

Curt