Sharon's Marketing Missive

Are you true to your customer? Are you true to your brand? Or are you tempted by the successes of another and want to copy them, diluting your own message and brand?

Last week at Market to the Max, this Seattle copywriter's favorite panel was the airline one: Porter Gale of Virgin America and Steve Jarvis of Alaska Airlines both presented information about the marketing strategies of their companies and the reasoning behind. To me, the most interesting part of the presentation wasn’t the actual nuts and bolts of each airline’s approach, but the fact that these airlines:

·         Know their customer

·         Know themselves

·         Stay true to both

For a copywriter who believes in telling stories to market, you might think I’d tend towards fiction and being untrue to your brand, but nothing could be farther from the truth. Every business has stories to tell that are real. The trick is to tell the stories that are true to your brand and message, to learn what your customers want and like about you, and to figure out how to consistently offer that to them.

Virgin is hip. Everything they do is hip. Their customers love hip. That’s why they have such strong brand loyalty. Alaska is not hip, Alaska is “genuine and caring.” These two airlines have remarkably similar demographics as far as age, income, education level, etc. But what appeals to the Virgin customer differs dramatically from what appeals to the Alaska customer. So Virgin adheres to what works for them and doesn’t try to copy Alaska to woo those customers away. And Alaska adheres to what works for them and doesn’t try to copy Virgin to woo those customers away. If either one did, they’d be inauthentic, customers would end up dissatisfied and feeling like they’d been tricked, and the game would soon be up. They might have short-term gains, but they’d suffer long-term consequences.

Whether you're in small busienss marketing or big, next time you’re copywriting or hiring a freelance copywriter, remember to:

·         Know thy customer

·         Know thyself

·         Stay true to both