Dodo Loves Marketing

“You then buy a list of demographically correct people living in that area.

“Is that enough ‘how to do it’ for now?” I asked Sarah with mock impatience. “Will that keep you busy for a while?

“Because if it is, I’d like to go back to the ‘what to do’ for a minute. There’s a lot more to it than meets the eye.”

“This marketing thing isn’t nearly as complicated as I might have made it seem,” I continued. “But it’s important that you take it seriously. Because it most often is regarded by small business owners as merely ‘good common sense.’ And I have seen more often than not that the only definition of ‘good common sense’ is ‘my opinion.’ That most small business owners, suffering as they do from what I’ve come to call ‘willful disinformation,’ simply decide what they want to do without any information at all, without any interest in what’s true, and then simply do it. Stationery designed by the local quick-printer with a logo thrown in. Colors picked by their wives. Signs designed by the local sign guy whose experience is in painting signs, not in determining what colors and shapes are psychographically correct. ..more

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Because until you do, until you begin to take it seriously, until you give it the earnest attention it demands, your Prototype will continue to be the only thing it could hope to be under the circumstances—a crap shoot!

At GERBER Business Development Corporation, we have created tools for our small business clients to begin the often arduous task of making demographic and psychographic determinations, and how to position their Prototype in the mind of their consumer. The impact has been astonishing.

Small businesses that acted like small businesses when we met them began to operate with intelligence.

Their customers came vividly alive to them, often for the very first time.

Inquiry, the active solicitation of specific information, and controlled experimentation replaced the guessing, blind hope, and feverish busy work that preceded them. ..more

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The question then becomes: If my customer doesn’t know what he wants, how can I?

The answer is, you can’t!

Not unless you know more about him than he does about himself.

Not unless you know his demographics and his psychographics.

Demographics and psychographics are the two essential pillars supporting a successful marketing program.

If you know who your customer is—demographicsyou can then determine why he buys—psychographics.

And having done so, you can then begin to construct a Prototype to satisfy his unconscious needs, but scientifically rather than arbitrarily. ..more

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Try to visualize your customer.

He’s standing before you.

He’s not frowning_; nor is he smiling. He is perfectly neutral. Yet, there’s something strange about him.

Coming out of his forehead, reaching up toward the ceiling, is an antenna! And at the end of the antenna is a sensor, beeping away like crazy.

And the sensor is taking in all of the sensory data around it—the colors, shapes, sounds, and smells of your store, or your office, or the restaurant where you’re meeting for lunch.

The sensor is also taking in sensory data from you: how you are standing or sitting, the color of your hair, how your hair is combed, the expression on your face— Is it tense? Are you looking directly at him or off to the side?—the crease in your slacks, the color of your shoes—Are they shined? Are they worn? Are the laces tied? ..more

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People are going to resist what they don’t want. It could be something they find dull, overwhelming, frustrating, boring or threatening in some way.

No matter what the reason, resistance is healthy and ought to be expected. It’s good for workers because it allows them to vent feelings, and it’s also good for the company because it provides valuable information. But it also poses problems for the manager when work has to be completed. ..more

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