So what?
SMMB2BSMM: Because suffering is… umm… bad. And jobless is…
debilitating. You get the idea. So the our Slow Marketing Moment
B2B Snack Mix Marketing Writer might get to something like this:
Our new Tastee snack blend will do more than just nourish your bored
passengers. The blend will delight your passengers because it’s a cut
above typical airline fare—so much so that they’ll maybe be inspired to
share the good vibes on social media. They’ll Instagram selfies with the
fun packaging (did you notice the packets are square, like Instagram?)
Happier customers make for more brand loyalty, and more brand
loyalty makes for a more successful company and a happier work
culture. You’ll be a hero! You’ll get your picture on the break
room bulletin board! Your own parking spot! The works!
B2B SNACK MIX MARKETING IS
A RIDICULOUS PREMISE
Or is it? We’ll Instagram literally anything. Snacks. And
how much they suck. Or not. Whether you sell snack mix or
motor oil, cacti or kittens, this “so what?” question is the Slow
Marketing Moment makes you hit pause. And embracing that
Slow Marketing Moment can help you reframe a product or
service as a clear value for the customer. It becomes a shortcut—a
kind of “hack”—to achieving empathy with customers.
If you slow down and ask yourself this question before starting every
marketing program and every piece of content and everything you
write as part of that program, you will serve your customers—to
the benefit of your brand. And you’ll do that by avoiding droning
on about your brand. You’ll avoid making your brand the focus
instead of the things that matter to the people you are trying
to reach. (Really, they don’t care about you all that much.)
MEET
ANN HANDLEY
Ann Handley is a Wall Street
Journal bestselling author who
speaks worldwide about how
businesses can escape marketing
mediocrity to ignite tangible results.
IBM named her one of the 7
people shaping modern marketing.
She is the Chief Content Officer
of MarketingProfs; a LinkedIn
Influencer; a keynote speaker,
mom, dog person, and writer.
annhandley.com
You’ll put your products in the context of your customers’
lives… instead of the other way around.
EMPATHY, HUMILITY
The so what question is an empathy shortcut, and it’s also a
humility shortcut. It takes you and your brand out of the story—
and puts your audience at the heart of it. It makes your customer
the hero of your story. And, ironically—and this is the wonderful
part—slowing down enough to ask and answer that series of
questions will get you results faster and more successfully.
At its heart the question embraces the philosophy of what the very best
marketing really is: understanding our customers and helping them
make the best decisions by framing things on their terms, not ours.
And that’s true whether you sell apps, apples, appliances,
apparatuses, airplanes… or the snack mix they carry.
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