MASS MARKETING IS DEAD
An article in Business Week spoke about the shift of companies asking “is this product right for everyone” to consumers asking “is this right for me?” Everyday we’re swamped with ads that are telling us to “buy this” “trust this” “donate here” “eat this” don’t eat this” and etc. With ad spending increasing from $50 million in 1867 to $22.4 billion in 1974[1] the market for marketers has become quite saturated. In his book Pyromarketing Greg Stielstra spoke about the past mass marketing success formula:
Limited Product Choice but Plentiful Supplies
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High Demand for Good and Services
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Clustered Consumers
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Broad Access to Very Few Media
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Little or No Consumer Resistance to Advertising
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MASS MARKETING WORKS VERY WELL [2]
Jesus was never a mass marketer. He was very selective in where He expended His efforts. With no marketing budget, no blog, no social media, no ads in television, radio, or the internet; without Twitter, Myspace, LinkedIn, Facebook, Digg, and etc He was able to draw a crowd so big that most Chief Marketing Officer’s (CMO) would’ve passed out from disbelief! What did He do??
He understood the power of word-of-mouth. With all the money movies spend on marketing themselves people still ask those closest to them, “how was it?” If the response is good they make the sacrifice and go if it’s not they don’t. He also did what many marketers are now starting to do…He focused His efforts.
He prized intensity over extensity.
Most marketers don’t do that; they spread themselves very thin. If there were 5 prospects each with a different desire for their service: 1 is not interested, 2 is slightly interested, 3 is interested, 4 is very interested, and 5 is very very interested. What would they do? Start a campaign that targets all of them: each receiving equal attention. But what if more attention was given to the 4’s and 5’s? What would be the ROI on that? How much more success would that bring?!
THE MASTER MARKETER AT WORK
Jesus sat at a well waiting for His disciples and while waiting He met a Samaritan woman. They started a conversation and before long He shared with her His message. “Jesus replied, ‘Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.” His product sounded so appealing that she immediately asked to buy: “’Please, sir,’ the woman said, ‘give me this water! Then I’ll never be thirsty again, and I won’t have to come here to get water.‘”
After some more conversation she left to tell everyone about Him: “The woman left her water jar beside the well and ran back to the village, telling everyone, ‘Come and see a Man who told me everything I ever did! Could he possibly be the Messiah?’ So the people came streaming from the village to see Him. And because of her word-of mouth advertising “many Samaritans from the village believed in Jesus because the woman had said, ‘He told me everything I ever did!’ When they came out to see him, they begged Him to stay in their village. So he stayed for two days, long enough for many more to hear His message and believe.”
“Marketing at its very best is communication, not coercion. When you connect people to the products or services that satisfy their needs, nothing more is required. When your product and its marketing are relevant, people ignite and immersing them isn’t necessary. Immersive advertising proves the adage that you can lead a horse to water but you cannot make it drink, but PyroMarketing provides its corollary, that you cannot prevent a thirsty water from drinking”—Greg Stielstra, PyroMarketing
Now what happened there??
Jesus marketed to a woman who He knew would be very very interested. She in turn became a “customer evangelist” and spread the word about Him. She was more effective than a commercial, an ad in a newspaper, email marketing or etc. Her comments were so effective that “people came streaming from the village to see Him.” He focused His attention on His BEST prospect and as a result got some very very good customers.
WHAT TO DO
Some lessons we can learn from Jesus:
- Focus your efforts—focus time, money, resources where there’s the greatest return. Prize intensity over extensity.
- Focus on your best customers and/or prospects—look for 4’s and 5’s and cater to them. You may have to fire some 1’s and 2’s in the process. Stop trying to “persuade” those people who don’t need your service that they do. Your time would be invested more wisely in finding a Samaritan woman.
- Focus on having an excellent product or service—a good marketing campaign is not enough. If your marketing is effective but your product is not…you will lose ENORMOUS social capital! Trust will be broken and you’ll have to redouble your efforts just to gain it back! When the Samaritans finally tried what Jesus was offering, look what happened: “Then they said to the woman, ‘Now we believe, not just because of what you told us, but because we have heard Him ourselves. Now we know that He is indeed the Savior of the world.’”
Till next time…God Bless! See you next year
- Daniel J. Boorstin, The Americans: The Democratic Experience. (New York: Vintage Books, 1974), p.101
- Greg Stielstra, Pyro Marketing: The Four Step Strategy to Customer Evanagelists and Keep Them for Life. (New York: Harper Collins, 2005) p.21
