When it comes to marketing, how do you define great?
Is it the award-winning campaigns or the ones that go viral? Is greatness measured by response rates and bottom-line profits? Or is a great campaign the one that can concurrently brand, position and sell?
In the search for great marketing, we must weed through so many philosophies and definitions, it’s hard to know where to focus our energies. And while marketing is definitely changing, the things that used to work often still work.
We don’t need to throw out the old in order to embrace the new.
Perhaps we’re making it too hard on ourselves. In our attempts not to fall behind, we adopt new marketing platforms and processes willy-nilly, without a thought for how it fits into our marketing mix or what we’ll use it for. We “join the conversation,” but without anything to say.
Perhaps we need to return to the basics and remember that great marketing is about ideas, not the media we use to share those ideas.
Ideas, not technology, make marketing great
Sure, social media and content marketing are changing the way we communicate with our prospects. But bottom line, we can’t communicate without an idea.
That being the case, it’s the idea, not the platform, that helps us connect with our audience.
David Ogilvy wrote, “It takes a big idea to attract the attention of consumers and get them to buy your product. Unless your advertising contains a big idea, it will pass like a ship in the night.”
Big ideas don’t just belong to advertising, though. They’re necessary for every type of communication. So your blog post should be based on an idea worth talking about. The comment you leave on someone else’s blog should contain a valuable idea. Your tweets should be relevant. So should your web pages, direct mail and emails.
Basically, if it’s worth writing, it must contain an idea. Better yet, a big idea.
How do you know a Big Idea when you see one?
A great idea resonates. It makes you smile. And in most cases, it’s so simple, you can’t believe you didn’t think of it yourself.
One of my recent favorites is Zales Jewelers’ “Love Rocks” campaign, developed by The Richards Group. Could it be any simpler? Yet how many hours did it take to find it? How many complicated ideas were thrown into the pot before someone came up with the simple one?
Big ideas are like that. Simple, powerful and elegant.
Like a beautiful woman, the best ideas aren’t worried about the silk dress they’re going to wear when they go out on the town. They’re thinking about what they’re going to say when they get to the party. They have substance.
Here’s what Stavros Cosmopulos, named by The Wall Street Journal as one of the 10 most creative people in the world, says about them:
I’ve seen stick figures scribbled on wet lunchroom napkins so blurred you could barely discern what was represented. But an idea was there, and it had a life of its own. The words and pictures spring to life in your mind, stimulated and inspired by the basic strength and dynamism of the idea…. Make the layouts rough and the ideas fancy.
In other words, the idea is king. New media is great, but it’s nothing more than the limo that drives your idea to its destination.
Great marketing is about communicating. Period. It’s not about the power of technology. You must connect with your target audience by getting their attention and stimulating their imaginations. You can only do that with a great idea.
Finding your Big Idea
Let’s be honest. There aren’t that many big ideas. Some of it’s our fault. We’ve been distracted by new marketing methods and platforms, so we aren’t always looking for ideas.
But some of it isn’t anyone’s fault. A truly great idea is hard to come by. And most of us don’t have time to wait for one to appear on the doorstep. There are deadlines to meet and, these days, new media to learn.
Nevertheless, we should always be on the lookout for the next big idea.
I like the way Luke Sullivan talks about the genesis of an idea. Most of the process, he says, is staring at your partner’s shoes. Then…
You feel the glimmer of an idea move through you. You poise your pencil over the page. And it all comes out in a flash of creativity…. You put your pencil down, smile, and read what you’ve written. It’s complete rubbish….
This process continues for several days, even weeks, and then one day without warning, and idea just shows up at your door, all nattied up…. You don’t know where it comes from. It just shows up.
Most creatives can relate to that. Where do big ideas come from? Who knows. The trick is to be waiting with a net so you can grab them as they flutter by.
What’s your process for finding big ideas? Have you seen any great ideas recently? Share your thoughts below.
