Nihil novi sub sole

Source: Mathyas Kurmann (https://tinyurl.com/ycyepr8g) on Unsplash (https://tinyurl.com/y7j8ct7l).

There is nothing new under the sun, at least not in the world of marketing communication.

The digital marcom folks are rediscovering what "Old School" direct marketing practitioners and the businesses that depend on it knew all along:

Marcom that's worth its salt is intrinsically accountable.

And:

Whether the purpose is branding, education, credibility-building and/or sales, marcom effectiveness can be greatly improved if it is evaluated against an objective ROI benchmark.

Also:

It doesn't hurt if everyone's in agreement that marcom's about what your prospect wants it to be. Nothing more. Nothing less.

For starters, we must stop assuming that the noise in our head is the same as the noise in our prospect's head (Seth Godin).

The prospect couldn't care less about our attempts to separate them from their money and/or time.

To paraphrase the legendary copywriter Eugene Schwartz, a marcom plan should be based on insights regarding:

• how aware the prospect is about you, your brand, and your physical & functional product/service,

• the position you occupy in the prospect's mind (Al Ries and Jack Trout) and in the market, and

• whether your product/service satisfies a need, want or fleeting desire.

A prospect who's already sold on the idea of buying your product/service (or one just like yours) will demand a different marcom approach than a prospect who is unfamiliar with you and even your product/service category.

If your brand falls somewhere in between these two market limits, your strategy has to take this fact on board.

All marcom for a product/service category can be said to have a verbal & visual vocabulary.

It pays to, therefore, take stock of the current as well as the most recent marcom that corresponds to the product/service category that your brand is competing in.

What is the competition saying and how are they saying it? What strategy, if any, and tactics are they using?

A fundamental objective of a marcom plan should be to counter competing approaches, arguments and the tactics used. Not follow suit.

Of course, the value you allot to such insights depends on how important marcom is in your marketing mix.

There may be nothing new under the sun. But if your prospects believe this to be also true of your marcom, then it has clearly ignored one important fact:

'. . . the people you address are selfish, as we all are. They care nothing about your interests or profit. They seek service for themselves. Ignoring this fact is a common mistake and a costly mistake in advertising.' (Claude Hopkins)