The Queen of Soul belts out wisdom for business owners. You’ll never hear Aretha the same way again as you discover the hidden messages in her lyrics.
There’s a lot of bad marketing out there. You know: Marketing that is irritating, insults your intelligence or that simply doesn’t speak to you. To shake things up a bit, I looked to Aretha Franklin for some inspiration.
“You’ve got to think (think!) ’bout what you’re tryin’ to do to me.” (Think)
Before you craft your marketing message, figure out what the message is trying to accomplish. When you write postcards, newsletters, advertisements or post web content, it’s essential that you ask:
What actions do you want your audience to take? Is the purpose of your campaign to stay visible to your prospects or to urge them to attend an event, to call you or to refer people to you? Make this explicit. Often marketing materials are trying to do too many things, obscuring the action you want your audience to take. Think about what you are trying to do, or rather, what you are trying to get your audience to do.
“Chain, chain chain. Every chain’s got a weak link.” (Chain of Fools)
What is the experience of your customers or clients? What do they want or need? Where is the opening to help, fix, maintain, supply, or support this area? If you don’t know, start observing more closely, listen better, ask questions and try to get into the experience of your customer. Tap into an existing desire, need or frustration they have and then offer a solution for it. How can you strengthen a weak link in their chain or offer relief in some way?
“R.E.S.P.E.C.T. Find out what it means to me.” (Respect)
People are smart and the ones you want as clients are probably smarter than average. If your marketing materials speak to the lowest common denominator you are liable to lose the upper crust of clients who can truly help you build your business. People see right through marketing that is too sales-y, cliché or inauthentic. Provide something of value to your audience instead of simply bombarding them with your sales pitch. When people feel respected by you, they are more likely to want to work with you or buy what you are selling.
“Forever and ever you’ll stay in my heart and I will love you.” (Say a Little Prayer)
Speak to your customer’s needs in a way that resonates with them and you are more likely to feel the love. When you are marketing yourself, speak the language your audience uses. People lose interest when you drone on in your industry lingo about some feature or function or process—that’s your world, get into their world. When your prospects hear how you can solve their issues in their words they will be interested. This is how you become valuable to your audience and how you will stay in their memory (and maybe their hearts too).
“Sock it to me. Sock it to me. Sock it to me.” (Respect)
Now say it in a way they can repeat it. When you hear a song with a catchy phrase, you remember it. Think of the ads you remember. They are quick, punchy and to the point. Try this: Think about what it is you do for people—what benefits they get from you, what pain you relieve for them—and write 5 snappy, juicy, punchy, exciting ways to get to the heart of that. Remember, this is not an elevator speech, it is a one liner that should entice, but doesn’t have to tell your whole story. Here’s mine: “I blast through barriers with small business owners.”
“Or you might–find out I’m gone.” (Respect)
Hear Aretha's voice the next time you work on your marketing materials. Know what you are trying to get your audience to do. Speak to the weakness or pain your customers are feeling and offer a solution in their terminology. Respect the intelligence of your audience and be authentic. And sock it to them in a way that is catchy and easy to repeat. If you don’t, you might just find out they are gone and using someone else’s services, buying someone else’s goods. Follow these guidelines and you’ll hear your customers singing your praises and coming back for more.
Learn more about the author, Karrie Kohlhaas.
Karrie, you and Ms. Franklin just described quite beautifully what writers and designers and clients should talk about all the time.
The professional argot we use: "call to action", being "customer-centric" in the writing and concepts, "WIFFM" (what's in it for me--the customer), and message "stickiness."
As a writer, I'm forever at the pulpit preaching those things. But from now on, I may just sing.
Thanks!! Great job.
Great advise Karrie, thanks for putting it out there!
Beautifully said Karrie, it wasn't boring to read at all and easy to grasp.
Karrie, you have the knack. And you picked one of my favorite singers. I'll never listen to Aretha again without thinking about your wise observations. If you got this much at your young age, you will be quite the sage when you get to your senior years. Keep it coming so we can keep learning.
Karrie, good job I liked your article and it's true. It's about our clients not us. As a designer, I am always solving visual problems for my clients, not for my self.
Good article, love Aretha!
Great advice and a fun way to remember the cardinal rules of marketing!
Karrie, like Aretha, knows that peeps will remember your message a lot more easily if you entertain them. Next time somebody tries to persuade me of something using corporate jargon, I think I'll just belt out "Who's zoomin' who?"
Karrie, I love it. I may dig up some James Brown songs to see what he had to say other than "I got soul" and "jump back and kiss myself".
Who knew?
Very nice. I'll go over it piece by piece before we meet. Cuts to the chase...Matt
This is great. Your words and Ms. Franklin's don't stop when the article stops. The tune resonates and keeps popping up to help you remember what's important and that you want to help others remember what's important. Thanks!!
Very well sung! Thank-you for a memorable message.
Nice work, Karrie! The article is thoughtful and entertaining! I'm glad I got the chance to check it out. Thanks!
Karrie, I just loved your article. For my business, marketing is one of my toughest challenges and consequently something I typically don't seek reading about, and your analogies kept me reading until the very end of your ariticle. Nice work!
Karrie! Aretha could inspire me to do just about anything! And you sum it up so well. One of the very best things I've done in the past year is hire you. I am excited about moving forward on my own marketing messaging with someone as brilliant and as fun as you!
Hi Karrie, From one marketer/copywriter to another: terrific article. It's nice to know someone else has a unique and entertaining point of view on the tried and true.
Best, Stacy
You teach what you do!
This article is an illustration of exactly what it preaches.
Going deeper (or to art) for inspiration, + working harder to convey your aspirations, + leveraging cool clients' contexts as functional limitation, = messages that go farther without further perspiration.
That's what marketing is! You do your chosen field great good, Karrie. I'm glad you share.
Wow!
You definitely helped me today, Karrie!
Not only do I have some new marketing ideas, I'm looking at my iTunes playlist in a whole new way. Or, it's looking at me in a whole new way.
Pretty cool. Thanks.
What a fun, creative and inspiring article. I like the way you think and in turn make me think. Keep 'em coming!
What a great article!Tons of useful ideas! Thank you,Karrie!
Another one coming soon?
Best wishes, Kremena Tobin,LAc
this is AWESOME Karrie, you have such a great way of putting the information out there and making it fun to read. thank you for this valuable insight!!!
I really appreciate everyone's comments. Thanks for the kind words. I am so glad people got something out of this article.
Aretha said "I've always felt rock and roll was very very wholesome music." I'll add: It's also an excellent way to combine marketing and dancing!
Incidentally, when I was in elementary school I didn't understand why someone didn't just put all that stuff we needed to learn to rock and roll tunes. It would be so easy to remember! Think of all the rock and roll songs we all have memorized just from listening to the radio--what if that was actually helpful information!?
I will be writing more and more so I hope you'll check back to the Learn section regularly. Think about writing a piece yourself! A lot of you who commented happen to be experts in your fields and have a lot to offer the rest of us.
Karrie does it again ~ succinct and poignant in a way that keeps us smiling while sitting at the computer plugging away at whatever it is that fills your Indie heart!
Bookmark article
Follow article
Email to a friend
Share article
