Stand-out marketing: you know it when you
see it. Clicking on a page, and suddenly you're hit with a
burst of fruit-juicy goodness. Vibrant colors, bold headlines.
Simple, bright copy that swiftly wipes your mind clean of
all its clutter. A trustworthy smile, and a clear voice that
fills you with big ideas and a sense of purpose, all in a
matter of seconds.
I'm talking about that thing that only some
marketers have, that makes other marketers bow down to their
expertise and declare them "Brilliant!" "One
in a million!" "A real thought pioneer!"
What makes some companies so magnetic, while
others have you swiping at the little X in the top right-hand
corner of your web browser? If you find out what this "secret"
is, can you get it for your own business?
I have a name for that "thing",
that talent that only A-list creatives seem to have been born
with. I call it Analogy Marketing, because that's what it
is.
The effective use of a simple analogy can
make your promises gleam more brightly than those of the competition.
It can imprint your name in the mind of your target audience
and keep it there. And it frequently works, over time and
through repetitive contact, to convert fans and admirers to
paying customers.
So how can you use analogies to make your
marketing beam a strobe light across the World Wide Web, and
make you globally known and revered in your niche?
According to the Random House Unabridged
Dictionary, an anology is "a similarity between like
features of two things, on which a comparison may be based:
the analogy between the heart and a pump."
In the same way that we use analogous thought
to color our every conversation, we can use it to give our
advertising message a boost and help our customers remember
us more easily. If you're not in the habit of thinking in
analogies, it's a conceptual strategy that can be refined
over time, and with regular practice.
Suppose you want to develop your brand identity
and corporate image. How can "thinking in analogies"
help you carve out a concept that works to attract more customers?
Kick off the process with a branding brainstorm. First, cover
the primary benefits that you can offer your key customers.
Establish the "unique selling proposition," or USP.
Once the USP is clear, follow with a series of representative
analogies.
Let's try it now.
Suppose you're a marketing firm (if you're
reading this, you probably are one). Your customers love you
because there's always something fresh and new emerging from
your staff of brainy creatives. You decide this is going to
be your USP.
Okay - that's a good explanation, but it's
not a visual. You need a visual - something that you can turn
into a graphic, so that it becomes an iconic representation
of your company. People retain information more easily when
it's presented with a symbol, or icon, that they can visualize
in the right hemisphere of their brains.
How can we turn this into a visual? Start
thinking in analogies. Imagine the ideas bursting forth from
your marketing people. They're spewing out at a constant rate.
Ideas flowing. What's that like? Maybe... a geyser? There's
your analogy. "Our marketing ideas burst forth like a
geyser." Okay, but it sounds flat. So, let's turn it
into a catchy line:
Geyser Marketing: Bursting with Fresh
Ideas
You can picture a geyser here, can't you?
Good... that's what we want - to prompt a visual. This is
how we "stick" with our readers so they remember
us later.
Maybe the geyser in your brain is a photograph.
It could be Old Faithful! Or, perhaps it's a cartoon geyser,
like the one in my head. You will decide later, with the help
of your graphic designers, what the "actual" geyser
on your logo will look like, based on the personality and
preference of your target audience.
Once you get the hang of this, analogies
will just start coming to you. Can you see how the following
brands and taglines originated in analogous thinking?
Pancake Marketing: Ideas to Flip For
Megaphone Marketing: We Get the Word
Out!
Flower Pot Marketing: Ideas to Help
Your Business Grow
The Copy Cowboys: Wrangling Up Fresh
Concepts Every Day
Chili Pepper Marketing: Ideas on Fire.
Truck-Stop Marketing: We're Always Open
A+ Marketing: Take a Lesson from the
Experts
The Marketing Cosmeticians... We Make
You Look Good!
Want to get into the habit of thinking in
analogies? Do this: start a blog that's relevant to your selling
niche. Then, wake up an hour earlier than you normally would
each morning, and let your mind roam where it may. If you
come up with some blog topics that your audience may find
useful or at the very least entertaining, try to spin those
thoughts into an analogy or two. For example, you might think
to yourself, "My client entrusted me to communicate on
her behalf. That's almost like saying, 'Here, hold my egg.'
(yes, this is a direct quote from my own blog).
Thinking in analogies can even help you
develop those clever, one-liners that keep your audience on
the edge of their seat: "Find out what your SEX LIFE
has to do with the way you market your business!"
(I think it may have been Andrea J. Lee who said that, but
I'm not certain. What I am 100% sure of is that there is an
analogy behind that thought).
Truth be told, thinking in analogies isn't
for everybody. If you can't do it, don't beat yourself up.
This is why advertising creatives get paid top dollar to help
develop award-winning brands. Remember though, that if you
want to blow past your competition in the sales running, you're
going to need unforgettable marketing. A good, hard-hitting
analogy-based branding message could well be your first big
step toward success.
