Hundreds of times every day, people are silently asking themselves 'so what?' as they are exposed to an onslaught of marketing messages. Here's how you can employ the same phrase to get your prospects to stop and pay attention.

Consumers think differently than marketers

When we're in consumer mode, as opposed to marketer mode, there's a sarcastic voice in the back of our head that filters everything we hear and see. It's a defense mechanism against the avalanche of information we face. That voice also helps us be better marketers as we deliberate our strategies and messaging. We need to deploy our built-in bullshit detectors when we're in marketing mode, because customers do it automatically when someone is trying to sell them something.

1962 ad by Freeman & Gossage for American Petrofina

Some things haven't changed

In the 1960's Howard Gossage said “The real fact of the matter is that nobody reads ads. People read what interests them, and sometimes it's an ad.” This observation is true whether we're talking about an ad, website copy, blog posts, email marketing, or Twitter. The current level of obsession over which medium is the best way to get out the message is remarkable. Yet, the truth is that what's still most important is the message.

Where will ‘so what?’ lead you?

Hopefully it will lead you to identify the real problem you solve for your customers, and what moves them to take action. Here are a couple of things to think about as you peel away layers of product feature babble and marketing jargon with the question 'so what?'

Are you identifying and solving a major pain point for your prospects? If not, then so what?

Are you showing prospects how to realize their dreams? If not, then so what?

Are you allaying the fears that keep prospects from doing business with you? If not, then so what?

Are you showing prospects how to have more freedom in their lives? If not, then so what?

Are you showing prospects how to get more love, more prestige, more money, or more fame? If not...

Get outside yourself

When working on your marketing messages, ask yourself 'so what' over and over, to get to what other people really care about. It'll help you avoid drinking too much of the cool-aid when it comes to your own product or service. Step back for a minute and let that skeptical voice have the floor. It will give you a glimpse of how your customers feel when they hear your pitch, and help you make a genuine connection with them.

Human beings are a massive bundle of fears.

How many of these do you occasionally feel: fear of being alone; fear of looking foolish; fear of being cheated; fear of being unpopular; fear of not being desirable; fear of not being smart enough; fear of being too ordinary; fear of being too different; fear of being taken advantage of; fear of getting old?

If your brand can allay any of these fears, it will be warmly accepted.

How the big guys do it

Think about the iconic companies that everyone recognizes, like Apple, Sony, Nike or BMW. We feel comfortable when we buy something from them. Even if a competitor makes something a little bit better, the general perception is that you've bought the best. Nobody is ever going to look at you and say "what a dupe, he bought a BMW". Those brands have taken away one of their customers' biggest fears.

But if you haven't already reached this plateau with your brand, you can't afford to pretend that you have. So how can you overcome customer fears?

Here are some examples of brands overcoming fears

Citizens Bank helps overcome the fear of being alone by building their brand around personal service that makes customers feel important and welcome.

Mariner Software allays our fear of not being smart enough by building an interface so intuitive that we never need to open a manual.

Boston University School of Business overcomes the fear of not being smart enough in a different way: By packaging a master’s degree in technology along with a master’s degree in business, and calling it the MS•MBA.

Oil of Olay cosmetics diminishes the fear of getting old by designing all their cosmetics specifically to firm your skin and make it look younger.

Mini Cooper helps alleviate our fear of being ordinary with a unique body design, a fun driving experience and the option to create your own customized paint job.

Harvey's, my local hardware store overcomes my fear of looking foolish by not only having the right tools and parts, but by showing me exactly how to use them to make a repair.

Healthworks fitness club overcomes women's fear of being judged while they work out, by making it exclusive to women.

Nordstrom's Department Store overcomes the fear of making a bad decision by allowing customers to return an item, no questions asked, for life.

Understanding fears is another way to look at the question of what problem your brand solves

When creating a marketing strategy for your business, sometimes the toughest thing to determine is what problem we are really solving for customers, and how we are doing it uniquely. One way to find the answer is by thinking about the fears you can potentially overcome. Create uniqueness in a crowded market by addressing a fear that no other company has addressed, and by doing it in a convincing way.

Don't just promote it, build it into your product or service

With the companies cited above, a fear-alleviating customer advantage has not only been promoted well, it's been built into the company's business process. The formula under which a product is created, and the training employees go through are a requisite parts of keeping your brand promise. Building a brand isn't just about messages, styles and tonality, it's about backing up what you say with actions. Which also happens to be the key to opening your customers' hearts, and their wallets.

Photo by GeeSeeBee

You are no longer in control. The balance of power has shifted.

Your company's brand is a relationship with your customers, and the nature of that relationship has changed. Once, advertisers controlled all the channels of communication because they paid for them. Now that Social Media and the internet gives everybody their own communication channels, other people have a say in your brand and what it means to them.

Are you trying to control what your customers hear, think and say about your brand like a jealous boyfriend? Well, the object of your desire has been liberated and she feels free to to explore other relationships. How can you make things interesting so she'll want to stick around?

One way is to listen better, and communicate better.

That's the power of social media. If you thought, 'oh boy, a new media channel to get my message out, and sell more', you missed the point. Nobody wants to be sold to more. But if you think of it as a new way to find out what your customers need, and serve them better, it takes on a new meaning. By informing and serving a community within social media channels, you've got the chance to demonstrate your ability to fulfill its needs. Which paradoxically can help you find more customers.

It's all about attitude

If you're confused and unsure about what to do in this new paradigm, one simple phrase can guide your program: 'How can I be of service to you?' If that attitude permeates all of your marketing activities, you can't go far wrong, even if you don't know the difference between Facebook , Twitter and MySpace. Delighting and amazing your customers is how you can take it to the next level. But those are just fancier versions of 'How can I be of service to you?'. How simple is that? Take that approach in everything you do and say in your marketing, and life will be less complicated.

There's another side benefit to being as helpful as you can to the citizens of online channels. They will be more predisposed to feel good about your offline marketing, thus making it more effective.

Also, don't forget: How can I be of service, version 1.0.

The single most effective tool ever invented for building successful companies—a unique brand promise—is still the most effective. Can you articulate what you stand for and what makes you different in the way you serve your customers? In a study by Brand Keys, cited by Jack Trout in his book ‘In Search of the Obvious’, fewer than 23% of major consumer companies had any distinguishable differentiating trait that consumers could identify. That number may be even lower in many B2B niches. What does this mean for you? It means you have an opportunity staring you in the face to show customers how you can be of service to them in a way that nobody else is.

Matisse once said, "If you put a color down on your canvas that you do not like, don't scrape it off. Put down another color next to it on the canvas that makes it work". What he meant is that all color is relative. What looks great in one context is all wrong in another. The color green may look pretty awful on a pair of pants, but it can be elegant in your branding.

Individual colors have personal meaning and cultural significance as well, but those issues will be discussed in a future article. In the practice of branding, it is color in relation to other things that gives it its true meaning.

How can color help me stand out from my competitors and brand me as being unique?

UPS has taken this to the extreme with the most diminutive of colors, brown. They have made it heroic in symbolizing what they do and who they are—a powerhouse of supply-chain efficiency. And yet, how many would have chosen that ugly step-sister of a color to symbolize their company? That is precisely the point! Now UPS owns the color brown. And they've made it into a thing of beauty—unless you are a competitor of theirs.

Why not just choose your favorite color for your brand?

Very often, I've had clients request that I use their favorite color as the basis of their brand. This is a problem when their favorite color is also being used in their competitors' logos and web sites. Using your favorite color can work out OK when it's:

A) Not already taken in your niche, and

B) Has a symbolic meaning related to what you do

But often, personal preference is a poor way to choose the colors for your brand. (There is a way to deal with a situation where a particular color has been dictated, which I'll get to below.)

What, then is a useful process for choosing brand colors?

Survey the competitive landscape

Choosing a color scheme that emphasizes your difference is a powerful way to send a signal that distinguishes you from competitors. Particularly if there's a prevalent theme in your industry. For instance, say you're in the business consulting field, and all of your competitors use cool, muted, subtle color themes, with their name set in traditional, refined serif typography. Ask yourself, what are the colors that reflect your differences from those competitors? Are you more accessible to clients? Are you less risk-averse and more bold in your strategy recommendations?

Let the colors project the meaning

Perhaps you'll want to choose colors that are warm and vibrant, with bold san-serif type, rather than a refined serif font. Here is your chance to send a message with your color choices, and create meaning that differentiates your company. Intense, warm colors can say you are passionate and up-front, more friendly than reserved, more geared toward action than reflection. A bold san-serif font in this context reinforces the feeling you're proactive, and not wishy-washy. Realize that color and style choices are business tools to help you connect with the clients who prefer your approach.

Colors can be mixed to display some complexity of traits

Have you ever noticed how popular the color blue is as a theme for logos and for web sites? Blue is a popular color in general, but it's particularly so in business. It stands for stability, trustworthiness, and analytical coolness. But when there are 8 different companies in your niche, with the same basic color theme, it becomes difficult to stand apart.

Let's say that for one reason or another, the color blue has been dictated in your branding. Here's where a second complementary or analogous color can make all the difference. Match the blue with a bright yellow, or a sunset orange to suggest innovation and warmth of personality. Match it with fuschia or lime green to suggest a maverick quality in your thinking. The possibilities are many, even if the use of a certain color has been pre-ordained in your branding.

Dealing with the reality of the market

Approximately ten years ago as the Creative Director of an advertising agency, I was charged with the rebranding of Sovereign Bank as they entered the New England market. They had acquired nearly 300 branches in the NorthEast, and felt it was time for an overhaul of their logo and signage. Originally, their logo had been a dark, almost blackish blue, and featured the cutout shape of a lantern. At that time in New England, the major players were Fleet Bank (blue), Bank of Boston (blue and green), Citizens Bank (bright green) and US Trust (red), which was being merged into another bank and was disappearing as a brand.

We wanted a color Sovereign could own in this crowded market, so we seized upon the newly available color red. We made it deep and rich-looking to dovetail with the name Sovereign, which suggests royalty and red velvet robes. Their lantern, which was a symbol of the welcoming quality of their branches and employees was given a warm yellow glow, which stood out nicely against the field of red and gave it more depth. This look and color combination made Sovereign immediately recognizable in a new market and allowed them to convey their difference from the other major banks.

Finding the answer

A color choice for a brand cannot be made in a theoretical vacuum. It is a balance between what is available to differentiate your company from competitors, and the meaning you create for your customers. When considering designs for your brand, place them side-by-side with those of your competitors. Let the desire to zig while the others are zagging be the starting point for creating your brand's color scheme.

Imagine it’s a beautiful Summer night, there’s a gentle breeze and your favorite song is playing into your earbuds as you stroll. Blissful feelings flood your consciousness and suddenly you’re connected with your deepest yearnings. The music and the words put you into an expansive, optimistic mood as if a switch has been thrown in your brain. Anyone who is a communicator must feel a pang of jealousy at the ability of rock music to mesmerize us in this way.

We all have a little rock and roll inside us

By that I mean everyone has secret longings in their heart. And the right music, the right words or the right imagery can peel back the layers of defense that we put up to hide them from the world. Rock music taps into a place in our brains where we feel optimistic, hopeful, rebellious, and where some of our fondest memories reside. Have you ever wondered ‘how can I capture some of that magic in my marketing messages’? Is there a place where your brand and these powerful feelings can overlap, just a little bit?

Major Advertisers try to do this all the time

We've all seen commercials that co-opt our favorite old songs. Everything from tampons to automobiles. But often it backfires. It makes us indignant at the advertiser for attempting to hijack our feelings, and makes us feel disillusioned with the music itself. For most marketers, it's not a consideration—we're not going to be able to afford the royalty payments on our favorite Led Zeppelin track. So what's another, more intrinsic way to put some rock 'n' roll into our messages?

Speak to the dreams in your customer’s hearts

The key is in the problems you solve for customers: Are they feeling disrespected, do they yearn for more love and appreciation? Do they want to feel cool, or smart, or feel some pride in their everyday lives—like a mom who expresses her love by serving healthier food, or the guy who feels sexy and powerful because his car is sweeter than the other rides in the health club parking lot. If your product isn't tapping into these deeper desires on some level,  you're missing an opportunity to get on the radar of your ideal customers.

Now, maybe you're really skeptical...

‘Get real’, you're thinking. What if I sell something utilitarian, like weed killer—how the hell does that have any connection to some deeper meaning? Let’s suppose the weed killer had a product benefit of killing the weeds in your lawn without harming the environment. You could appeal to the idealist in your customers by showing how environmentalism and a beautiful lawn can co-exist.

The rock 'n' roll in me wants to know how I can have the greenest lawn on the block and at the same time feel virtuous by not dumping chemicals into the environment. My logical side might later compel me to get specific product details to back it up, but by then, I’ll be pre-disposed to listen to the scientific explanation. Because the rock 'n' roll in me feels I’m joining a movement of eco-responsibility when I consider this product.

What if your product can’t make a unique promise that appeals to the rock ‘n’ roll in your customers?

If your product or service doesn’t have this kind of special sauce, your problem isn’t in your marketing. It’s in your product. A good question to ask yourself when developing your offerings is 'Have we conceived something unique enough, or built some feature into it, that will allow us to speak to the dreams of our customers?' And if you have that special difference, have you extended it, nurtured it, and protected it from competitors?

If you think about it, there are hidden reasons for almost any purchase people make. Look to those hidden reasons for the keys to your marketing messages.

The marketing equivalent of a gold record

Usually, marketing makes our defenses go up because it's unable to touch that place where our dreams live. As competitive as most marketplaces are today, we still have fertile opportunities. How many of your direct competitors position their products in a way that taps into the rock ‘n’ roll inside of us? Do a quick survey, and you’ll find that very few companies do a good job of articulating value to customers, let alone capturing imaginations and building tribes of like-minded followers. The majority of the companies you compete against have messages that are the equivalent of old, forgotten recordings in the discount bin. If you can find the rock-n-roll in your brand and tap into the inner longings in your prospects, you could have the next big hit.