A Marketing Lesson From TV's The Apprentice

Advertising and marketing are creative disciplines. That's one reason I adore being a share of the marketing industry. Finding creative solutions to attend clients sell their products and services is a fun map to fabricate a living. Having said that, I must also say that too often I glance marketers going too far.

In my idea it is certainly possible to be too creative for your gain capable. What exactly do I mean by that? Let me portion a very public example to justify.

My example comes from the reality television prove, "The Apprentice." Okay, so I admit it, I esteem that display. I'm not noteworthy of a reality TV fan, but there's something about watching these teams compete on business challenges week in and week out that intrigues and entertains me.

Quite often they are given marketing-related tasks on the exhibit. Let’s face it, marketing is one of THE most necessary jobs you’ll ever have in business. If you can do it well, your business will more than likely do well. If you can’t market well, your business is in wretchedness.

In a novel episode of “The Apprentice” the task was to form a TV commercial for Dove Body Wash. The teams were instructed to near up with an "out of the box" 30-second situation to promote the product. The result?

Both teams created garbage! I guess some may argue they certainly did mediate "out of the box," and both teams tried to clarify that's what they did, but in the demolish, they failed miserably at their number one task: to sell the product!

And that's what I consider happens to many marketers who try to be too creative. They lose behold of the fact their job is to sell a product or service. To do that effectively, your marketing has to be one word: relevant.

You can be as clever or creative as you want, but in the ruin if your marketing is not relevant to the product and to those who are most likely to take it, you have failed.

perceive, I realize we have to be creative to choose our audience's attention. After all we are trying to sever through a sea of marketing clutter. I fair wish more marketers tried harder to connect with their audience vs. simply entertain them.

Heck, I sometimes wonder if marketers even know who their audience is. This definitely came into play in The Apprentice with both teams showing men using Dove Body Wash in their commercials. C'mon, it doesn't prefer a lot of sense to contemplate this product is for women! But because they were so focused on being clever, they lost leer of this very basic fact.

If I can leave you with one plan it is this: Identify and know your audience and then aim to connect with them and jump into the conversation they are already having in their head about your product or service.

If you can do this, you will be effective in capturing their attention, AND selling your product or service.

© Copyright 2005 Debbie LaChusa, 10stepmarketing