THINKing

Monologue Marketing

Monologue marketers – thankfully – are dying off, but there still are too many. What’s a monologue marketer? Here’s an analogy:

Someone comes up to you at a business event and says, “Hi, I’m Bob.”

You say, “Hi, Bob. I’m Harry. I’m 57 years old, married – have been for 28 years. I have two children, three grandsons, love hiking, canoeing, fishing, anything outdoors, really. I love music. I am a huge blues fans – Johnny Winter, Buddy Guy, Tommy Castro, Eric Clapton, B.B. King, BB Chun King and the Buddaheads.   I’m into wine. Reds are my favorites…Bob, where are you going?”

Do you get the picture? This is the  way too many organizations approach their marketing. Actually, this is a sales mentality, not a marketing mentality. This approach – dear friend – is not conducive to marketing or to sales.

Let me use an example of one of my clients to show how it should be done.

“Hi, I’m Bob. ”

“Hi, Bob. I’m Camstar. Are you in manufacturing, too?”

“Yes, I am. I work for a large manufacturer in North Carolina.”

“Really? We’re headquartered in North Carolina, too.  Does your organization use a manufacturing execution system?”

“Not right now. But we have been looking into manufacturing software.”

“Well, that is what we do. We have an enterprise platform that includes modules for manufacturing, quality, intelligence and interoperabilty. Are you involved in any of those areas, Bob?”

“No. I’m actually in sales.”

“Well, Bob it was nice talking with you. Let me know if there is anything I can help you with. Here’s our card if someone from your IT department would like white papers on the manufacturing software.”

Friendly, professional dialogue and no selling. Camstar got out of the conversation when it was clear that Bob wasn’t in the target audience. Are you a monologue or a dialogue marketer? Have anecdotes about either? Comments are welcomed.

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