Tuesday, November 27, 2007

No More "Me Too Marketing" - Stop the Insanity

Bruce Allen of the superb Marketing Catalyst Blog has a post this week that illustrates a dynamic argument against "Me Too Marketing". I have written about this topic on many occasions, but I do not think that I have ever been able to give such a great visual on why law firms and other companies need to avoid doing similar marketing campaigns to the competition.

The title of the post is What Women Know About Marketing that Law Firms Should Heed, and you should read the whole thing....but the gist is this:

Women do not want to wear the same dress to a party as another women at the same event. They take pride in their individuality and personal style of their wardrobe, and to copy others is not acceptable. He says that we all need to look at our marketing programs as the clothes we wear. Why would you want to dress like your competition?

Bruce got me thinking about how law firms and companies behave. Stop allowing your organization to be a copycat. Remember the famous episode of I Love Lucy where Lucy and Ethel buy the same dress for a talent show. It drove them crazy to be seen in the same outfit. It was just not going to happen. Yet everyday companies and law firms participate in "Me Too Marketing", happy to let the market place see them as a commodity...a sister act....just like the competition.

To develop unique marketing takes time and effort to create. You cannot just hire an advertising agency and hope they will deliver results. If ad agencies could work magic then you would not see the world of dull advertising that exists. Make the same commitment to your marketing as a stylish person would put into selecting their wardrobe. Think about what Bruce Allen says and remember that your marketing is the company's fashion statement. Wear it well and with style.

Have A Great Day.

thom
http://www.thomsinger.com/

2 comments:

Jeane Goforth said...

I totally agree with this post. However, then how do you 'sell' something that is different to people who are used to the same old approach?
We're crafting a non-profit using Margaret Wheatley's organizational ideas. We reject the conventional forms because we see they don't work for what we want to do. But then we struggle to fill out forms or follow guidelines because we don't fit. Luckily, we have an experienced volunteer who is helping us frame what we want to do in a way that may be more acceptable, but still this question comes up every time we discuss fundraising.

Anonymous said...

The Marketing Catalyst put it perfectly.

He wrote a really short article and yet delivered his point. But I guess most companies tend to copy another's success strategy because they can't afford to make such huge risks. Although as he mentioned, women sometimes show up wearing all black and yet these dresses have different cuts or designs.

If you admire a company work ethic or strategy, you can always apply it to your company but twist it a little.