If there is one trait that a great marketer should possess, it’s creativity. Why? Because in marketing, you need to be original. If you are not original, you’re a copycat, a meh-too, a has-been or a wannabe. And you won’t get attention.
In a world where we are inundated and brain washed that inbound marketing is in, and interruption is out, I’m calling bull on that, because even in your wildest inbound marketing initiatives and with the full zest of your content marketing prowess, you still need to get noticed. If you don’t get noticed, you will fail the first test of a good marketing outcome: Awareness.
Here are two examples of being different in marketing, and although they are in the physical world, you can draw analogies for the online world. To cure bad marketing, Seth Godin says, “Notice what is working in the real world and try to figure out why. Apply it to your work. Repeat.”
Market it Like Tesla
In a Forbes article, Why You Should Copy Tesla’s Way of Marketing, Siimon Reynolds gives credit to Tesla for not opening dealerships along where most of the existing ones are, but rather going the creative route, inside shopping malls. Actually, that was exactly where I saw the first Tesla, walking to work inside Brookfield Place last year, when I snapped this picture.
For starters, they are not located along main roads like every other car dealer, they are in shopping malls – right alongside brands like Zara, Bloomingdales and Sees Candy. Secondly the showrooms are only the size of a small shop, often only squeezing in a single vehicle into the space. This radical departure from car marketing norms completely changes the traditional customer math. Most cars dealerships would be lucky to get a hundred potential customers perusing the cars on their lot each day. But because of their location, Tesla gets tens of thousands of people walking right past their car, every single day.
Show, Don’t Tell
And in this other article, An Example of Advertising you Can’t Ignore, Ann Druce noticed this campaign by Easigrass as being really creative, and noted the following characteristics:
- The ad is different
- It’s quirky
- It’s single-minded
- It’s memorable
- Show, don’t tell
- Clear contact details
So, What’s a Good Idea?
No need to go further than adopt David Ogilvy’s 5 (ambitious) stage rules for a good idea:- Did it make me gasp when I first saw it?
- Did I wish I thought about it myself?
- Is it unique?
- Does it fit the strategy to perfection?
- Can it be used for 30 years?