WHAT KIND OF MARKETING BUYER ARE YOU?
By Marty Gould
I’ve been involved in the marketing and advertising world for over 30 years. In that time, I’ve met thousands of people who made marketing decisions for their clients or businesses. I’ve observed every possible behavior in the process. Some people are dealmakers, while others are incapable of making up their minds. Some are bullies and others are skeptics. Dozens of different types and styles of markers, but there are certain basic prototypes of behavior when it comes to how they handle their marketing. Let’s look at three main types of marketing or media buyer and see which one you think is most like you.
Type #1: Quitter Quentin
He’s nervous and confused. He gives up easily. Quentin always wonders what to do
next, and he’s overwhelmed by lots of different media choices. This is the person who brings people in, hears all their offers and plans but can never actually make a decision. And when he finally does, he usually quits his campaign before his prospects have a chance to figure out the message, something we call client fatigue, which means they pull the ad before the client actually has time to have heard it enough times to be able to react to it. Quitter Quentin is responsible for killing a lot of good potential marketing campaigns for no other reason than they second-guess every decision they make
Type #2: Bargain Hunter Bob
Bob thinks the best commercial is the cheapest commercial. He’s excited and happy when he negotiates what he thinks is a good deal. While it’s always important to buy advertising as efficiently as possible, getting the lowest price does not really guarantee anything. If Bargain Hunter Bob’s target prospects aren’t using that particular media, those cheap ads they he bought became very expensive in a hurry. Bargain Hunter Bob often forgets to figure out his cost to acquire a new customer. That ten dollar radio commercial might turn out to be very expensive, while a two-thousand dollar television ad or a direct mail campaign focused on people who would be more likely to buy what Bob’s selling could turn out to be very inexpensive by lowering his customer acquisition cost.
Type #3: Blamer Betty
Poor Betty is always unhappy and never satisfied, no matter what she does. Of course, she blames everyone else for the failure. At first glance, Betty seems to be efficient and competent, but she’s really just the opposite—more like Quentin, but instead of quitting, she micromanages before hand and then blames everyone else when the campaign doesn’t perform up to expectations. For Betty, it usually winds up being the media’s fault. “That station (or direct mail campaign, or banner ad, whatever) did an awful job.” There are many reasons why campaigns fail: poor scheduling, no call to action, not enough repetition of the message. Media outlets each have a core group of people who consume their content and that group does not change on a client-by-client basis. It is up to the advertiser to know to who they’re reaching when they choose a particular vehicle. The advertiser is responsible for making sure their message or promotional activity is aligned to the people who they are reaching through the media they choose to use.
If you’ve ever exhibited some of the tendencies of Quitter Quentin, Bargain Hunter Bob or Blamer Betty, maybe you should take a step back and evaluate your marketing success in terms of your own actions and behavior.
The old saying, “measure twice, cut once” is something smart marketers do all the time. They make decisions that take into account all the factors that have to do with how, when, where and why potential customers will react to their marketing. They take more time at the beginning of the process to make sure their media, messaging and measurement align with their plan, increasing the chances for success.
Marty Gould is creator and founder of The Customer Store, now available on Amazon as a published book to assist you with your own Market Intelligence. Check out what The Customer Store can do for your marketing: www.FindMyBestCustomer.com
