Jul 6, 2009

Marketing musings with no blarneyBy Bob MartelMetroWestDailyNews.com

Just back from the Emerald Isle and a long overdue vacation. It was a bit of a pilgrimage… to the pubs, to the ancestral village and parish church, and to Dublin and James Joyce’s lair in Sandy Cove on Leopold Bloom Day.

With Independence Day just past, Bastille Day around the corner and the fact that it’s summertime, we’ll keep this column on the lighter side with some marketing musings and observations that carry some powerful lessons for your business.

More to the point, I’d like to urge you to pay closer attention to how companies are marketing to you, and to become more observant of the marketing techniques (and psychology) being used to convince you to open your wallet.

First, I’d like to acknowledge the passing of Billy Mays, the consummate television pitchman who entered our lives as a master salesman for OxiClean and a growing portfolio of products. He started on the boardwalks of Atlantic City selling the Washamatik where he learned pitching skills from the old pros.

Mays perfected television direct response based on, in my opinion, three powerful concepts: he established an exceptionally high level of trust with consumers, his high standards for product performance strengthened that trust, and he believed strongly in the products he promoted.

His trust quotient was so high I bet he could sell more insurance than that silly duck or the gecko. Do you have a clear trust-building strategy in your business? Take a page from Billy Mays’ playbook. Trust is everything. It takes time to earn it, and it can be lost in a flash – in business or in personal relationships. Hard to get back once it’s gone.

Now, a few points to ponder from my R&R in Ireland.

Read complete article.