THERE IS NO PERFECT PICKLE

Some of the best marketing advice you’ll ever hear? “There is no perfect pickle. There are only perfect pickles.”

Odd? Yes. Relevant? 100%. Let us explain:

As marketers, and as human beings, we can be a bit…self-involved. We put the ways in which we would like to be spoken to, acted around, and considered, to the forefront when communicating with our families and friends – and that behavior naturally extends to our businesses. In most areas of our lives, this practice is not a negative. In fact, it quite literally embodies the Golden Rule; “Do unto others as you’d have done to you,” right?

While experience and personal beliefs are an important element when it comes to developing marketing messaging and campaigns, it is vital that we step outside of our comfort zone to consider that what we might feel is an effective way to sell a product to ourselves might not be the best way to sell it to someone else.

Dr. Howard Moskowitz is a well-known market researcher and psychophysicist who has worked with some of the biggest brands in the world to help them come to this realization in product development, and his theories easily extend to marketing.  Malcom Gladwell’s 2004 TED talk explains how Dr. Moskowitz was able to dramatically increase Prego®’s market share in the 1980s, simply by proving that there is no one perfect spaghetti sauce recipe – but, instead, several varieties of sauce made “perfect” for each taster.

Watch the complete video for the whole story:

Malcom Gladwell’s 2004 TED Talk: 11 Minutes

To circle back, Dr. Moskowitz also directed Vlasic® to create the “Zesty” pickle based on feedback from research to that brand. “There is no perfect pickle, but there are perfect pickles.”

So, how do you apply the Moskowitz way of thinking to your marketing efforts? Instead of looking for a universal message, look for variables that you can break down and make the campaign more appealing to everyone. Make a concentrated effort to understand more about how your prospects think, feel, and live their lives and look for reasoning behind what drives them to make decisions. It’s all about emotional connections and when you connect personally with the right audience, they will be more likely to engage in your brand/offer.

Putting this theory into practice, consider your next direct mail campaign. Break down your campaign into segments and prepare a personal message catered towards each person. Make it personal and find multiple ways to connect with the person. Every person is unique and they might not all want to respond to your offer the same way. Give them a choice. Some might want to learn more online, other might want to setup a time to meet.

Interested in looking for new ways to connect with your audience personally? Give Oregon Printing Communications a call at 937-222-9418 to see how we can help.