Sell The Dream, Not The Toy

<p>For many years we have been advising clients on how to market their businesses. When we sit in marketing meetings we are given briefs that focus on the product or service our clients are trying to sell. We have to wade through all of that information and find the "experience" behind the product to pull together a marketing campaign that will work. </span></p><p>Many brands get their marketing wrong and focus on the product rather than the dream or experience. Here are few pointers for you to consider for your next marketing campaign to make it work harder for your business.<br></p><h5>1) What It Is That You Are Selling?</h5><p>You know your business and industry inside out. You work in it every day and know your products every detail and feature. However your customers are not really interested in that. They are after an experience that is memorable not just the product itself. If you can start to sell this you're half way there to a great campaign.</p><h5>2) Brainstorm Your Benefits</h5><p>What are the benefits of your product over your competitors? What is it that makes you stand out? You need to ascertain these and translate them into experiences your customers will want to enjoy and aspire to. This will create brand support and you'll find it easier to market to those customers and reduce your marketing costs as you'll be moving away from brand awareness campaigns to a strategy where your strongest advocates will shout out your message for you.</p><h5>3) Don't Sell On Price<br></h5><p>In any business when you think of "offers" you'll instantly think of discounts. This is the wrong way of looking at it. People who enjoy the experience of owning or using your product or service are not that conscious of price. Yes, you can't be £1000's out on price, but this is not always the most important factor for buyers who love the experience you have created. In a <span data-mce-mark="1">recent 2014 Eventbrite nationwide study they found that 78% of Millennials would spend money on a desirable experience or event, rather than buying a desirable product or service. What this says to marketeers is that an experience has more value than a product. If we spin that around and start marketing experiences rather than the actual product we will have attracted the lucrative and upcoming Millennial market which is something every business needs to start doing.</span></p><h5><span data-mce-mark="1">4) I Can't Think Of An Experience!</span></h5><p><span data-mce-mark="1">OK, this is a common issue we face. As mentioned at the start of this article, we hear clients describe the features of their product rather than the benefits all the time. This pushes many to have a mental block over cultivating an experience. The trick is to start thinking about what people do with your product or service after they have bought it. How does it make them feel? We want them to enjoy using it and become an advocate for the brand. When we market our clients in the static caravan sector we aren't selling caravans, we are promoting the lifestyle they are going to enjoy. As a result we don't talk about product specifications, or if we do it's low down in our marketing output. We talk about having the chance to holiday whenever you want and the use of imagery that sells is people-focused rather than caravan focused. This allows us to promote the experience rather than the product.</span></p><h5><span data-mce-mark="1">Let's Sum It Up...<br></span></h5><p><span data-mce-mark="1">Finding the experiences that will help you promote your business are not difficult to find.  Use these 4 simple pointers to help you start thinking about user-experiences rather than the service or product you are selling. Try this out and see what you can come up with. If you need any help drop us an email or <a target="_blank" href="http://www.moomoomarketing.co.uk/contact.php">get in touch online</a>. We are always happy to offer advice for free so there is nothing stopping you from making this change to your marketing strategies and start getting brand loyalty and better results from your budget.<br></span><span></span></p>