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The role of marketing communications that have real benefits for potential customers Here is a back issue of Marketing Booster, the email newsletter that Richard Groom writes and sends free every fortnight to subscribers. You can subscribe here or read over 60 back issues using the back issues index page. I've been reading a lot of marketing text books lately and I've noticed that there is one style of marketing that hardly seems to get a mention. It's almost as if it's some weird new innovation that hasn't made it into the academic marketing establishment yet. It's the idea of what I call 'value marketing': giving things of real benefit and practical use to potential customers. In other words, giving away free stuff to people you don't know, who aren't customers now and most of whom will never even become customers. It sounds crazy when you put it like that, but it works. Some business people I know hate the very idea of giving away free stuff. I'll never forget the time a couple of years ago when I was asked to give a joint seminar on direct marketing to a local business group. I suggested to my co-presenter that we finish by offering attendees a free article or report with more information. He was aghast, saying that if anybody wanted any more information they would have to pay for it. In the end, I pulled out of the seminar and let him get on with it. A few weeks later, I gave a seminar on copywriting to 60 marketing people. I offered a booklet with more information on the subjects I'd been covering. Most of the 60 gave me their contact details so I could send them the booklet. Over half of them also subscribed to 'Marketing Booster'. At least three have since become clients and just this week I had two more enquiries from colleagues of people who were at that seminar. Of course, this is not a new idea. Retailers have always offered free samples to get people to try their products. Go to any market in mainland Europe in particular and you'll probably see stallholders offering you a taste of their cheeses, hams, wines or whatever. Here are some reasons why 'value marketing' is so attractive to the marketer or business owner: * You get people interested. People are generally quite selfish in terms of what they will and will not read. So you might need to offer something of real interest and value to get them interested, especially if you haven't already built any kind of relationship with them. * You get permission to keep in touch. With the current legislation about mail, phone and email marketing, it is important to get people's permission to contact them. Hundreds of people have subscribed to Marketing Booster. I doubt that any of them would have registered to receive traditional marketing messages from me every two weeks. * You can recycle your free stuff. Once you've written an article, report or guide, you can offer it online, at trade fairs, through advertisements and elsewhere. (Even this article has been recycled.) * It's cheap to produce. The more value in a document, the less you need to spend on production. People will be happy to download a simple web page or PDF if the content is genuinely useful and interesting. They won't be put off by the fact that it's not printed on glossy paper. * It's easier to write. I find that it is much easier for someone who knows their specialist subject inside out to write a 'value' document rather than write in the more usual marketing communications style. * You can generate good publicity. Magazines and other publications will probably report that you have published a free ten-page guide to a specialist subject. They won't often report that you have a new brochure. * You get a chance to build trust and credibility. By offering interesting and useful materials, you are demonstrating that you (or colleagues in your organisation) know your subject. * You'll never be short of ideas. The 'guide to' approach is one theme. But there are many more. What about writing reviews of the books that your target audience might be interested in? Or an analysis of a recent news story? Or interviews with experts on specialist topics? So please bear in mind the option of 'value marketing' when creating campaigns. Sure, you still need other more traditional forms of marketing communications materials, but adding the 'value' element might increase your chances of generating a greater response from your audience. Copyright 2005 Richard Groom |