- The big challenge we face in marketing
is persuading people to buy a product or service.
Let's say I want to sell you a coffee mug.
I've got to persuade you
that this coffee mug is what's missing
from your life right now.
Now I'd be a lot better at persuading you.
If I had some insights
into you and your behavior,
for instance,
if I had to guess
at how to sell you a coffee mug might likely fail
because I have no idea just how interested you'd be.
Maybe you're drinking coffee right now out of a mug.
That's just fine.
But if I knew you had just completed a Google search
for best coffee mugs to buy
or that you've recently subscribed
to a coffee subscription
I'd know you might be a lot more interested
and then I can build marketing campaigns
around that knowledge.
So as you build out your digital marketing
it's important to keep asking the question
what information would help me be more persuasive?
This is how you can back your way
into knowing what insights you'll need to capture
or where your campaigns are most likely to succeed.
This way of thinking unravels follow-up questions
that you can use to dictate your strategy.
And once you have an idea
of the information
that will be helpful,
ask yourself
how will I obtain this information?
And then you can ask yourself
how do I use this information to my benefit.
Perhaps you'll choose to use a particular channel
say social media,
or maybe you'll choose to create messaging
that speaks directly
to the buyer's level of motivation.
At scale, you can even use this approach
to work your way into customer segments.
Let's draw this out together.
Okay, so I want to sell a coffee mug
so I can ask do you own a coffee mug?
And I can get this information
from a survey
or from recent purchase data.
Perhaps I'll use this to exclude anyone
in this group from receiving my messaging.
So this gets me to a customer segment of happy mug owners.
And I'm going to check
on these customers in about six months.
Maybe they're not loving their mug by then.
Okay, so what about,
do you want a new coffee mug?
Well, I could get this information
from search queries
or browsing habits,
or maybe even from a friend.
Perhaps I'll design a campaign,
asking people to nominate a friend
who desperately needs a new coffee mug.
As you can see,
when you start with the question
what information would help me be more persuasive?
He'll quickly unlock the building blocks
for a successful marketing strategy.