Many people today hate most advertising and marketing that comes their way. Don’t believe me? Check out these headlines:
- Millennials really hate advertising, study finds — here’s why (SF Gate)
- New Data on Why People Hate Ads: Too Many, Too Intrusive, Too Creepy (Vieo Design)
- New Study Highlights How Much People Dislike Digital Ads (Adweek)
(NOTE: If you click on any of the above headlines, it will open a new window.)
It sounds pretty hopeless for marketers and advertisers, huh?
But what if there was a way to create marketing that people don’t hate? What if there’s a way to create marketing makes people hopeful?
I think there is a way. And I will reveal it to you after I tell you this story that is an analogy for how to think of your marketing…
11,000 to 12,000 WWII Prisoners Escaped Thanks to Monopoly
You might not know this, but during WWII prisoners of war who were held by the Germans were allowed to actually receive care packages delivered by the Red Cross.
These packages were always carefully inspected by the Germans to make sure that the prisoners WEREN’T sent things that could help them escape.
But the British were STILL able to sneak silk maps, tiny compasses and metal files to their soldiers.
HOW were they able to pull this off?
The British hid the maps and compasses inside copies of the game MONOPOLY that they shipped to British prisoners.
And, because they had these maps and compasses, it’s estimated that somewhere between 11,000 and 12,000 troops were able to escape captivity!
This reveals an important truth…
Important Truth: We’re All Lost Without a Map
Without a map or compass, it is very hard to know the right way to go. It’s easy to get lost or remain a prisoner.
This was true in the case of these prisoners, but it’s even more true for us in life in general.
If we want to have any hope of safely navigating through life and getting out of whatever trouble, problem, or pain we have, then we need a map and one that we know how to accurately read.
If we don’t have a map, then we needsomeone who can lead us in the right direction themselves.
Never forget that this is true of your prospects and customers. They’re all looking for a map or a guide!
If they see your marketing as a map to freedom from their problem, instead of an annoyance, then they will respond hopefully to it and not with hate.
Your Marketing Message Should Be a Map or Guide to Your Prospects and Customers
This leads to six important ways that you as a direct response marketer or content marketer can create marketing that brings hope:
BEFORE YOU CREATE YOUR MARKETING:
1. Before you create any marketing or take any of the other steps below, your desire must be to really help your prospects and customers. You must want to
really help them get unstuck and out of whatever mess they’re in.
2. Next, you must believe that the solution you’re offering through your marketing is the best (or one of the best) solutions or ways out.
AS YOU CREATE YOUR MARKETING, REMEMBER THESE THINGS:
3. Your marketing should speak to your prospects and customers with the understanding of where they’re currently at and in whatever way they’re stuck or trapped.
4. Your marketing must reach, or get to, your prospects and customers wherever they’re at. (In other words, they’re job is not to look for or find your marketing. It must find and reach them.)
5. The purpose of your marketing is to immediately communicate to your prospects and customers that you, your company, or your product or service, can show them the way out of the mess they’re in. (When they see your marketing, it should fill them with hope.)
6. The purpose of your marketing is to then communicate to your prospects and customers the steps they should take so that you, your company, or your product or service, can help them get out of the mess they’re in. (They should understand how you can help them and what to do to receive the help.)
Marketing That Brings Hope
If you remember this as you are creating your copy or content, then your prospects and customerswill feel hope when they see your marketing.
And that hope will lead them to take the steps to possess whatever you’re offering, which will lead to their “freedom” through whatever solution you’re marketing.
That’s much different than annoying people with another cold call, cold email, Linked pitch, or Facebook ad.
That’s how you create marketing that brings hope instead of hate.
Want Examples of How to Make of How to Create Marketing That Brings Hope?
As I was finishing this article and looking for some links to add to my opening section of examples of people hating ads, I came across an article that gives some great examples on how to create marketing that brings hope.
It’s a great article by Robert Overweg on TheNextWeb.com called We all hate advertising, but there’s an easy fix.
Click the article title above to see his great examples now.
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