What's Your Magic?

“The magic is in the product…You've got to live with your product. You've got to get steeped in it. You've got to get saturated with it.”

Bill Bernbach - Advertising Age Magazine’s Advertising Person of the [20th] Century

Bill Bernbach was the genius behind some of the most profitable advertising campaigns ever launched. His firm, Doyle Dane Bernbach (DDB), helped clients sell billions of dollars of goods and services. A key reason for their success was the ability of DDB’s creative team to find the magic in their clients' goods and services. As a copywriter and marketing consultant I take that same approach.

I call it, Finding Your Magic. This thorough and detailed approach typically involves five steps:

Step One – With your direction and help I'll study your company, its products and services, your industry, your top competitors.

This includes reviewing all of your current advertising, marketing, sales and PR materials along with your most recent "white mail," such as customer testimonials. If your organization prepares proposals as part of its sales process I'll ask to see one of those as well. Plus, I’ll look over any customer satisfaction surveys and major trade magazines serving your industry and surf the internet to check up on the competition.  

Step Two – As I gain an understanding of your company, your product(s) and/or service(s), and your current positioning in the marketplace...potential tactics, strategies, and messaging ideas will come to mind. I'll make note of them. And this increased familiarity will generate additional questions. When I’m done I’ll have a list of specific and detailed questions to go over with you.

Step Three – I'll email you the interview questions and we'll schedule a time for our digitally recorded interview. During the interview I'll "dig beneath the surface" and get down to the "nitty-gritty"…as to why people buy or should buy what you offer. For example, I'll ask you to -

• Articulate what differentiates your company from the competition
• Identify the opportunities you see in the marketplace
• Describe the common objections people give for not buying and how you overcome these objections
• Give me your thoughts on what makes for an "A" lead, a "B" lead, and a "C" lead. 

Plus, I’ll have detailed questions about your products and services. 

In this in-depth interview your answers will trigger new questions and new information which will trigger new ideas. When the interview is over, with your permission I’ll have our conversation transcribed. This document will serve as a reference tool and a source of inspiration for ideas, tactics, and strategies for improving your marketing, messaging and lead-generation results. (You’ll also receive a copy of the transcript, which can serve as a valuable training tool.) To view interview questions and an actual interview transcript please click here. I've edited out the client's name and any sensitive information been. 

NOTE: It's also a good idea if I can conduct another interview with one of your company’s top sales executives. In addition, I'll prepare a questionnaire to be e-mailed to your salespeople asking for their feedback. Getting their input and incorporating some of their ideas will help ensure their buy-in and make your program more effective.

Step Four – I’ll get the customer’s point of view. Are the reasons you think they buy from you, the reasons they actually buy? Depending on the size and scope of the project this may involve only a few informal interviews with some of your better customers. In other cases, you may want to undertake an in-depth research project involving enough interviews to achieve a valid statistical sample.

In addition to validating your beliefs or bringing new truths to light, third-party customer interviews can benefit you in other ways as well. For example, they can often elicit excellent customer testimonials. Plus, they can uncover new sales opportunities or potential customer defections.

Step Five – I'll review the printed interview transcript(s), highlighting key sections and making notes. The transcript(s), together with information gained from customer interviews and our other extensive activities…will give me a rock-solid foundation of knowledge. From this foundation and understanding and insight...the magic in your product, your service, your company will emerge. Then I will fully exploit this magic to make your project an unqualified success. 

For a client's perspective on the value of this five-step process click here and read the first post.

One final note. While you might expect this level of preparation and attention to come with a high price tag, I think you'll be surprised with how affordable it can be. Give me a call today and let's talk things over.