• I Watched, I Purchased, My Problem was Solved

    Posted on February 9th, 2012 by and currently 4 commenting.

    I recently remembered a story about advertising that worked wonders in introducing me to a product that I purchased and loved.

    Being somewhat of a music and technology nerd, I follow several blogs that keep pace with what’s happening in the industry. I can’t remember exactly where, but in browsing one of those sites a few years ago I ran across this marketing video from a company called Tune Up Media (1):

    They happened to be running a discount promotion at the time, so in an extremely rare instance for me, I acted on their message, went to the website, and purchased their product. I tried it out, it worked as advertised, and I was one happy camper. Afterwards I found myself thinking:

    “That was easy, and everyone benefitted. They got my money and I got exactly what I needed.”

    It was shocking how simple the whole process of marketing seemed.

    At least part of the complication comes from our tendency as marketers to create problems to solve for our clients instead of solving real problems for their customers, as I’ve written about before (2). I think much of it, though, comes from forgetting that our job as marketers actually is shockingly simple, and that it hasn’t changed. John Moore says it well (in one of my all-time favorite articles on marketing):

    “Really good marketing is, was, and will continue to be about getting the right message to the right person at the right time in the right way(s) to deliver the right results.” — From the Brand Autopsy Blog (3)

    • (1) You can learn more about Tune Up Media on their website.
    • (2) You can read my article about creating problems here.
    • (3) You can read John Moore’s post here.