March 27, 2014 8:10 AM

Marketing 101: Bullhorns and proselytizing rarely work well together

I’m hardly one to defend the excesses of the rite of passage that is Spring Break. That qualifier aside, is haranguing young people with a bull horn really the best way to convince them of the error of their ways and that your God is a loving and compassionate Deity? Is volume, open disdain, and harassment really the best way to reach your target audience? Have you ever considered that maybe trying to actually TALK to (not yell at) young people might be a better way to make your case? The astonishing lack of effective salesmanship aside, I can’t begin to understand how any lucid person could think that a bullhorn could be an effective sales tool? For reasons I can’t even begin to comprehend, these zealots think that browbeating and harassing college students with a bull horn is the PERFECT way to convince them to come to Jesus.

Remember, you’re representing your product God. Do you really want young people to think that She’s an angry, intolerant, mean-spirited wretch who’d sooner destroy and wreak havoc than love and console? And have you stopped to think about your approach, perhaps with an eye toward considering that there might be more effective persuasion techniques available?

This would seem the very definition of a classic marketing error. As any effective salesperson will attest, the art of selling is first and foremost about identifying and addressing needs. To understand how your product will add value, you must first know your audience. College students on Spring Break in Florida are far more concerned with drinking and other…um, “pleasures” than in hitting their knees and asking a screaming ninny’s version of God into their lives. Second, once you know and understand your audience, you need to determine the best way to reach them. Not surprisingly, screaming through a bull horn while wearing an “OBEY JESUS” t-shirt is a particularly ineffective of connecting with you target market.

Once you’re able to convince a prospect to at least listen to your pitch it becomes all about features and benefits. What makes your product an improvement over what they have now? How will that accrue to their benefit over the long haul? College students, on average, aren’t stupid; they can smell what you’re cooking. It’s just that the “used car salesman” shtick is tired, outdated…and not particularly effective. Now it’s about market research. Get to know your target audience. What are they likes and dislikes, hopes and fears? How can you tailor your pitch to meet them where they live? You may not ever be able to speak their language, but you might just find you’re better able to engage and persuade when you speak TO them instead of scream AT them.

Or you can continue to harangue them like an angry, desperate parent trying to corral incorrigible, out of control children.

Good luck with that one.

blog comments powered by Disqus

Technorati

Technorati search

» Blogs that link here

About this Entry

This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on March 27, 2014 8:10 AM.

Antonin Scalia: Being a troglodyte is no impediment to sitting on the Supreme Court was the previous entry in this blog.

Wait...wait...don't tell me.... is the next entry in this blog.

Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.

Contact Me

Powered by Movable Type 5.2.6