29 Jul Shake it Out – Challenge your Marketing Thinking

I love the song “Shake It Out” by Florence and The Machine. It first became my favorite as a song to blast on my headphones as I move through the airport terminals. It has a great beat for walking and blocking out extraneous noise.

Then I started listening, really listening, to the words – stop letting past guilt and experiences hold you back and instead look ahead. Shake It Out.

This is a good personal message to live by. And then I thought (1) can I extend this to my work and (2) how do I take this learning and apply it to my philosophy of marketing?

I think we get in a rut with our marketing:

A demand gen campaign consists of 5 emails plus one or two high va – – – lue col – – – a – – teral – – – <thunk> I just fell asleep at my desk…

Don’t get me wrong – these types of campaigns are good and effective and can collect a lot of leads. The point is – we get comfortable doing things the same way. Is it effective and still reaching our audience? If not, STOP immediately and change direction. Whether it is or isn’t, think about how it could be better, different, or thought provoking.

Going back to our demand gen example, how can I make it more compelling?

What if I added a unique give-away and mailed it to my prospect? Something that delivers the message of the campaign and is a keeper that stays on the desk?

Or what if I extended my campaign to an event like a roadshow or trade show and added a game show host that walked around and asked trivia questions about the product and gave a prize for an on-the-spot right answer?

Or what if I unleashed a litter or two of puppies in a trade show hall with little vests that had my product image and slogan? (Really now, who can resist a puppy?!)

These ideas may be out there and logistically not work, but the point is we need to not just rest on our marketing, we need to challenge our thinking. When we do this, who knows how far we can take it?

So Shake It Out. It might be fun to see what you come up with!

About the author: Kim McMahon has performed sales and marketing for more years than she cares to count. She writes frequently on marketing, life, the world and how they sometimes all come together.