It’s A Numbers Game

Okay, class, today we’re going to take a very logical look at marketing. It is so simple that you’ll wonder why you’ve never heard it before. Maybe it’s so obvious other marketing firms don’t bother to discuss it. Or perhaps you’re running with the wrong crowd?

Walk with us through the Buyer Behavior Bar Graph:

The vertical axis is your potential audience. Women between the ages 21-48. Men with an annual household income in the six-figures. Employees who spend all day on Facebook (you know who you are).

Each successive bar is a necessary step that a future customer must travel through before they try your product. Awfully difficult to scarf a Big Mac if you’ve never heard of McDonald’s. Impossible to tell your friends about the khakis-that-changed-your-life without having a closet full of them.

The drop off between each bar is the realistic expectation that people have better things to do than buy your product all day. Of the 100% potential audience, only so many will know your brand, despite having seen the commercial three times. And only a percentage of those that can draw your logo from memory will know what you do. And you lose still more between the people who know you sell “the world’s greatest kitty litter” and those who need to freshen up Cleopatra’s box right now. So on…

Because logic dictates the bar to the left is always higher than the bar to the right, watch what happens when you have very low brand awareness. Yikes.

This Tweeting Is A Lot Of Work

Think social media is the golden ticket to firing your agency? Au contraire.

Saying follow me on Twitter, like my company on Facebook, push my Vine to your pals: all tantamount to “Learn about the khakis-that-changed-your-life (and PLEASE tell your friends) before you’ve ever tried on a pair at The Gap.” Take a look:

Now we’re not saying a huge social following isn’t desirable – it of course is. But there is no leap frogging the age-old “hear of my company, experience my offering” before you “like my company” and “tell your friends”.

Does social media increase and expedite your reach? You bet. But if we were you, we would nail the theory behind backing out of the garage before you strap in at Daytona.