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Don't confuse what you think with the facts!
Posted by Adam
on
Friday, June 26, 2009
Just over 15 years ago I closed the door for the last time on my first business venture. A massive learning curve, and a massive waste of my time (and money).
In 1990 I managed to find some Angel backing and launched what was arguably the finest showroom in London. We retailed the best hi-fi at any price, and we’re talking about a serious price – our best system (CD player, amplifiers and a pair of speakers) cost £115,000, our best speaker cables cost £10,000 (no, really), we even had a £9,000 pair of headphones. The showroom was kitted-out in the most sumptuous style and was positioned right opposite Harrods. We had the best sounds, the best showroom, and the best location.
So why didn’t it work?
I made an all too common mistake. I confused my opinion with fact. I believed that my viewpoint was the same as everyone else's. I thought, because high quality music reproduction was a passion of mine, it would be a passion of the well-heeled folks who visited our store.
The experience taught me a lot of lessons which still shape my thinking. I engage focus groups, carry out research, and use sampling before I make any decisions for myself or my clients. At all costs I must avoid another similarly spectacular failure!
But looking back on the whole affair, I think that it illustrates some very interesting reasons why so much of today's marketing doesn’t engage with its audience. We need to recognise that our customers are different from us. We need to make sure that we don’t make assumptions about their viewpoint, their knowledge level, and most importantly we mustn’t for a moment think that they care about ANYTHING that we do or say. Because the chances are they probably don’t.
So next time you write a PowerPoint presentation, don't start with the company history and your CV, start with the exciting stuff, what you're going to do for their company, how much you can save them, what your big idea is.
Think about what the audience might want to hear, NOT what you want to say.
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In 1990 I managed to find some Angel backing and launched what was arguably the finest showroom in London. We retailed the best hi-fi at any price, and we’re talking about a serious price – our best system (CD player, amplifiers and a pair of speakers) cost £115,000, our best speaker cables cost £10,000 (no, really), we even had a £9,000 pair of headphones. The showroom was kitted-out in the most sumptuous style and was positioned right opposite Harrods. We had the best sounds, the best showroom, and the best location.
So why didn’t it work?
I made an all too common mistake. I confused my opinion with fact. I believed that my viewpoint was the same as everyone else's. I thought, because high quality music reproduction was a passion of mine, it would be a passion of the well-heeled folks who visited our store.
The experience taught me a lot of lessons which still shape my thinking. I engage focus groups, carry out research, and use sampling before I make any decisions for myself or my clients. At all costs I must avoid another similarly spectacular failure!
But looking back on the whole affair, I think that it illustrates some very interesting reasons why so much of today's marketing doesn’t engage with its audience. We need to recognise that our customers are different from us. We need to make sure that we don’t make assumptions about their viewpoint, their knowledge level, and most importantly we mustn’t for a moment think that they care about ANYTHING that we do or say. Because the chances are they probably don’t.
So next time you write a PowerPoint presentation, don't start with the company history and your CV, start with the exciting stuff, what you're going to do for their company, how much you can save them, what your big idea is.
Think about what the audience might want to hear, NOT what you want to say.
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