| Did any of you get the Microsoft free standing insert in the 1/12 Wall Street Journal? It's very clever—too clever for it's own good. By the way, I am not talking about a Microsoft email hoax some folks have mentioned to me. I'm talking about an honest-to-goodness printed letter slipped in the fold of my Wall Street Journal. For those of you who did not get the insert...it is a one-page letter, on Microsoft letterhead, stamped "DRAFT," with "hand-marked" corrections. The letter is written more like an ad than a letter. That's ok. But you have to dig to find out: - To whom the letter is directed,
- What the point of the letter is...what it is trying to sell
- What Microsoft wants me to do; there is no call to action, except for a not-to-prominent url on the lower right-hand side
I admit; I looked at the letter. You have to. That's what's clever about it. I see it is from Microsoft. Then I scan it for more info, which I cannot easily find. Because I am a professional marketer, I do read the letter. Turns out the letter is selling enterprise software, for which, in case Microsoft cares, I do not purchase. Even though Microsoft has money to burn, I do hope the letter was a creative market test sent to a discreet zip code. Even so, I wish Microsoft had called me instead, paid me half of what they paid for the letter, and asked asked me if I thought this test would work...at least as executed. I would have told them, "no;" and saved them money. I maybe even would have invested my fee into some Microsoft software updates. So what's wrong with this letter? I have to work WAY too hard to find out: - to whom Microsoft is addressing the communication? Is it me?
- what Microsoft is selling
- what Microsoft wants me to do...still don't know (I can guess; but why bother?)
So the moral to this story is...if you get a really big idea...unless you are Microsoft and are looking for ways to spend money, don't forget that every successful marketing effort is grounded in sound marketing strategy: - make sure you know your target market and how to reach them
- don't make your target audience work hard to find out what you are selling (unless you are giving away money, in which case your target audience won't mind the extra work)
- make sure your target audience knows what you want them to do...go to your web site, call you, etc.
- and finally, again unless you are giving away money, give your target audience a good reason to take action.
The above advice is not terribly clever. It just works. What dumb ads or direct mail have you seen so far in 2009? Victoria |
