HWW #18 – Are you on the right side of the want/need equation?

July, 2006

Hey, folks. Welcome back to the HWW newsletter. I’m feeling worn out and weary after spending the weekend pumping out pulsatingly powerful plays for 14/48: The World’s quickest theatre festival and the last couple of days diving into the whacky world of podcasting for Biznik, but don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about you.

Let’s dive right into this month’s barrel of monkeys and wisdom. And if you feel like you just aren’t getting enough Haddad in your life, check out the HWW Blog.

Wants, Needs and Justifications

“I want you (I want you)

I need you (I need you)

But there ain’t no way, I’m ever gonna love you . . .”

-Meatloaf

Alright, dear HWW readers, quick quiz: In the wide and whacky world of sales and marketing, what’s more powerful? Creating a want? Or filling a need?

Take your time. This one is important. Got it? Really? You sure? Ok, pencils down. Here’s the answer:

In marketing, as in most of life, Wants are much, much (much) more powerful than needs. In fact, Wants beat the sweet patootie out of Needs, take Needs’ lunch money and leave Needs all bruised and battered in the hallway trying to stuff its papers back into its broken trapper keeper while Wants goes off to flirt with that pig-tailed girl in Algebra class.

Just think about it:

You needed a way to get back and forth between your suburban mini-mansion and your in-city cubicle, but you wanted a slick and stylish mini cooper with super-tight handling and a racing stripe down the side.

You needed a drink to soothe your parched throat, but you wanted a cool, refreshing and satisfying can of original Coca-Cola.

You needed an honest, kind, loving and loyal spouse, but you wanted a bright-faced piece of beefcake with bowling balls for biceps and pearls for teeth.

And once you had that want set firmly in your heart, settling for a plain old fashioned need would have been, well, one heck of a let down.

As a marketer and businessperson, your job is to create rampant desire. As a marketer, you’re job is to create both tangible and intangible benefits to what you’re selling that are so powerful that they instill in your customers a pure and unbridled lust so strong that they just about trip over themselves trying to empty their wallets into your greedy little hands.

What happens in Marketing, stays in Marketing

But here’s the funny part. Somewhere along the line of the want/need equation the left brain and right brain collide. The passion driven right brain says “I want this, I want this, I want this!,” while the logical and dour left brain says “Well, I’m not sure that’s the most logical choice and really I think we’d get by just fine if we got a nifty little motor scooter.”

Which is where the almighty Justification comes in. The excuse. That little bit of pure (and hopefully true) logic that gives your customer permission to go ahead and get what they want.

And the Justification can be all sorts of things.

It can be “Well, this computer is a bit more expensive but this brand lasts longer so in the long run it won’t cost me anymore at all. And besides, it’s so shiny!”

or

“As a trout fisherman I could certainly use insider information on new lures and and techniques and with this 60 day money back guarantee, well, I guess I really don’t have anything to lose after all.”

or

“I’m not sure I need six gallons of popcorn while I watch this movie, but it’s only 50 cents more and I’m already paying too much . . . what the hell.”

or . . . . well, you get the idea.

It helps to think of marketing like an argument. Or like rhetoric. Like a debate. Or a seduction. You need to lay out your cards, transmute features into benefits, create awe-inspiring desire and, simultaneously, anticipate and answer all the little questions and speed bumps that are getting in the way of your customer doing what both of you want.

But, Chris, if I’ve got a great product or service, shouldn’t that be enough? Can’t I just put up a sign saying “Hey, these are quality wares, come and buy them?” and sit back as customers storm through my door and leave me fat, happy and rich?

If you’ve got a monopoly on water in Reno, then sure, sit back and enjoy, you don’t need to market at all. But for the rest of us out there in the wide world where, really, the difference between most products just aren’t that different, it’s all about stirring up desire.

Now, I’m not saying that you should ever lie to or cajole your customers. You’ve still got to do good work or provide a high quality product, but the fact of the matter is that these days the difference in actual quality between one product and another just isn’t that high. If you’ve got a product or service you really believe in and you want to sell it successfully, you’ve got to go for the heart.

And if you want to talk about this further, drop me a line at chris@haddadink.com

Get Strategic

Strategic marketing consultant and friend of Haddonia (he’s got diplomatic immunity in my office), Dominic Canterbury has just launched his very own blog. It’s downright tasty and refreshingly comabtive. Check it out at http://www.dcstrategic.blogspot.com

And that’s all for this month, folks. I need some food. But I really want a sandwich. See you on the flip side.

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Bad Copy, FREE IN THE WILD!!

I woke up this morning, rolled (literally) out of bed and stumbled over to my desk to check the morning’s mail and news.

Here’s what I found in one of the RSS feeds I have setup on craigslist for a full time copywriting position (don’t worry, folks, I’m not leaving you.):

“This position will create online tactical copy solutions that support seasonal/brand strategies and drive sales profitability. ”

Uhh. Ummm? You kiss your momma with that copy? Bad writing is a plague. A plague of nasty, biting insects. Avoid it at all costs.

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Copy isn’t King . . .

It’s a dictator. And a cigar chomping one at that. Copy strides confidently through its fortified villa, cagily avoiding the Wile E. Coyote-like assasination attempts of naysayers and flash programmers. Viva la copy!

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HWW #13 is out in the world.

The thirteenth issue of Hard Working Words, the newsletter was sent out just moments ago. If you didn’t get it, maybe you should sign up.

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Is Hype Dead?

There was a time that the surest way to sell to the masses was to hype the heck out of your product; to say every possible (and a few impossible) good thing about what you were selling in order to pry money from your prospect and to position it as God’s own shampoo.

But what about today? What about 2006? What about selling to a buying public who, quite frankly, is suffering from Hype Fatigue?

In my opinion (and why the heck are you here if you don’t want my opinion) marketers who are hype dependent today are shooting themselves in the foot. Can they make a sale once? Sure. Maybe. If they do it right and sell to an easily manipulated audience. But hype is a dangerous thing: if you don’t live up to it, people notice. And once they notice that your shampoo does not, as advertised, give your hair an angelic sheen, improve your sex life and infuse your scalp with a pleasant vibrating sensation, well, you can count the odds of that customer coming back to you again on 0 fingers.

Now, I’m not saying you shouldn’t try to SELL your product, just that there’s a difference between selling and hyping. Selling is taking honest benefits and presenting them to the customer in a compelling way. Hyping is . . .well, often times hyping is lying.

So, what do you think? Is hype dead?

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So, what do you do again?

I was having a drink with a friend (and fellow copywriter) last night when she asked me a question. She said “Chris, do you consider yourself more of a salesman or more of a writer or something right between?”

My answer?
“Err. Ahh. Both?”

I’ve been writing since I was a small, small child and selling (even when I didn’t want to call it selling) almost as long. Now, I’ve met copywriters and even marketers who think sales is a dirty word. My advice to you, dear reader? If you ever run into a copywriter who doesn’t consider himself a salesman, run, don’t walk, the other way.

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