Marketers who genuinely understand how marketing works put help first in their relationships with their target audience. They move away from selling to serving. They shift to being useful and away from annoying. They understand that customers don’t buy from business’ that interrupt them or piss them off with annoying, self-serving messages.
Seeing opportunity requires visions, empathy and a keen understanding of your customer’s problems.
The Marketing Helper
I met with a co-owner of a small market research firm in my area who also is a reader of my blog. He wanted to share some exciting research his firm is doing in the wine industry. He knew that I work in the wine world and that I organize wine conferences for marketing professionals. He shared with me some intriguing approaches to go beyond focus groups and “friends and family” to study wine labels, and the signals they send to the market about price, value, and quality.
Wineries go through cycles where they feel some urgency about upgrading or revising their label. It’s a powerful signal to communicate at the point of sale, about price, value, and quality.
After reviewing their research results and their methodology, I asked how I could be of help and how we might work together to each other’s benefit. We discussed several ideas, but the one that seemed most obvious was to see if I could open a door or two with my connections. I told the owner that he should do several studies at no charge to develop some compelling case studies that prove the value he claims he can create. And I could connect him with plenty of marketing professionals happy to participate in his studies.
I realized that I could be a connector bringing value to several people. So I reached out to a friend in California who works for a winery with limited resources for market research. He was thrilled to be part of a free study that could help his brands. His boss, the owner and I got to speak, and I explained that this was an experiment of sorts, a beta-test but that I thought it could provide value to him and his new brands.
The Helpful Marketer
By being helpful to a supplier, a friend and a potential customer for our company, I could add value and utility to a small group of people who before my action weren’t connected.
[Tweet “Marketing is about being a conduit of value, linking folks who can benefit from the connection. “]
As a marketing professional, this is one of my favorite things to do because it not only helpful to others, but has benefited for the company I work for too. It is a real win/win/win. Or in my case a wine/wine/wine.
In Jay Baer’s book, Youtility, he talks about a hospital that provides clinics for new parents to learn how to use correctly car seats. They created apps and workshops to help train and educate new parents. Instead of spending money on advertising, they determined that being helpful was a better way to connect with new parents. What a novel idea – don’t advertise, be useful to your community.
Help versus Advertising
I could run ads all day long interrupting potential customers. Or, I can do the actual work of marketing that brings value, earns trust and to help foster a community of common interests.
When you see marketing through the hearts and mind of your customers, you’ll recognize how being helpful is a powerful mindset for building trust.
Sorry Don Draper, your day is over.
How can I be helpful to you? Let’s talk.
