Brand Experience Trumps Selling Efforts.

by Steve Fodor

Remember the famous McGraw Hill ad from about 30 years ago? The one with the grumpy, old man saying, “I don’t know you. I don’t know your company. I don’t know what you stand for. Now, what was it you wanted to sell me?”

I had an experience today that reminded me how true that ad's message is.

Without getting into naming names, I saw an ad for an online Internet marketing degree from a seemingly-reputable university. The ad intrigued me enough to request more information. I filled in the required fields on the request form. One of the fields was for my phone number, which should have made me suspicious. Almost instantly, a PDF was downloaded to my computer and I looked forward to reading more information on obtaining a certified degree in Internet marketing.

Now, what happened next is still hard for me to believe. And I’m not exaggerating. Within 15 seconds of filling out the request for more information, the phone rang. It was a representative from the university. She talked very fast. I laughed and said, “I haven’t even had a chance to look at the information.” Her reply was, “I’m here to give you more information.” I said, “I can’t talk now.” Her snapped reply was, “Well, I’m here to schedule a time with you.”

My whole brand experience here went from interest to inquiry to experience to brand rejection in less than 60 seconds!

Savvy marketers understand that brand experience is the product of integrated marketing efforts, starting with publicity to create interest and extending through personal selling efforts. All of a brand’s touch points with a customer.

I guess that grumpy, old man in the McGraw Hill ad is still right. Even though we have so many new tools to interact with customers today, you still have to earn a customer's trust before they’ll consider your brand’s proposition. Understanding the customer’s buying process and their information needs will always trump efforts to “just close the sale.” Yet, I’m frequently amazed at how many marketers don’t make the effort to understand what their customer’s information needs are or decision-making process is.