My old pal Paul Wiefels, hot-shot consultant at the Chasm Group, shook his head sadly the day Steve Turner and I showed him our plan for business development. "You're taking on the hardest thing to do in marketing," he said, referring the "branding" thing. "People either get it, or they don't. If they don't, you'll never really get through to them." Of course, we all know this in our business. But it was useful, nonetheless, to be reminded because whenever we are reminded we re-boot, so to speak, drop the industry jargon, and re-synchronize our watches to accommodate Customer Time. Clients understand what a Web site is, and the requirement to drive people to it. So why not talk to them in those terms? Simply in those terms. Don't talk "brand". Talk "sale".
Seth Godin will tell you that the really legendary marketing initiatives and brand stories originated not with marketing professionals, per se, but street-wise people, entrepreneurs, who "get it". Not to imply that marketing professionals are dullards or street-stupid, but some of them really don't get the visceral part of appealing to people and giving them reasons to buy. The simplicity of an irresistible value proposition. Too many of them, rather than develop this proposition, fight an uphill battle day after day with colleagues who challenge them to "prove" the investment will yield big returns. People who've somehow come to assume that branding is all about slapping your logo on every vacant surface and and larding your website with self-congratulatory argle-bargle. These, btw, are same folks who insist on cutting the ad budget until sales improve. Point is: don't take them on. Devote time and sweat to (1) distilling what it is that makes your product or service the alternative of choice and (2) for whom. There should always exist a core , however small, of prospective customers for whom your wares are ideally suited and who will take the time to check you out. Start with them.
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