Robert Brecht’s Blog

While it is my intent that this blog be about Internet marketing, it is impossible to separate Internet marketing from the general field of marketing itself. Online marketing is a subdomain of marketing and has its own attributes, requirments and strategies. Much of it is taking what we have learned in the field of marketing and applying it to the medium of the Internet. The Internet medium is different than any of the traditional media channels utilized as part of a typical marketing plan. Where it is similar is in the “Message” component of whatever medium we utilize to reach and persuade our target market to do business with us. After all, the medium is just a vehicle to carrry our message to a particular target group. When the medium becomes the message we have lost our way and, soon to follow, many of our customers.

I find that one of the most profound questions in Internet marketing or any other kind of marketing is:

So What?

Think about this for a moment. While it sounds so trite, it holds the meaning of life itself.  Certainly on a much less grandiose scale, the fundamental question to any marketing efforts.  Let me give a couple of examples:

• I have a good product…. So What?
• I have been in business a hundred years…..So What?
• We are open until 9:00 p.m……So What?
• I attend church every Sunday…..So What?
• We have offices in 50 cities…..So What?
• I love my wife…..So What?
• Our product processes data at the speed of light…..So What?
• Traffic to our website has increased 80%…..So What?
• Our YouTube video has had 400,000 views…..So What?
• Your website has won creativity awards…..So What?

I hope you get the picture. I will leave it to you to contemplate the non marketing use of the “So What? question. Instead I will address why it is important in marketing and our approach to Internet marketing. It is a question we should be asking as we approach the development of marketing campaigns and strategies. It can help us focus our thoughts and efforts.

This question has two great meanings for me regarding marketing:

1. It helps me translate product or service attributes into meaningful customer benefits and a value proposition
2. It helps me focus on meaningful outcomes when planning Internet marketing campaigns

Let’s begin at the beginning. Remember our marketing efforts are focused on probable customers, i.e., our target market. That target market consists of individual people who are bombarded with marketing messages. How can we make ours stand out and how can we differentiate ourselves from others in the marketplace? The So What? question is one of the most important ways we can do that. Remember, marketing is in the mind of the customers. Customers view marketing messages through the prism of the conscious (rationale) mind and the unconscious (impulsive) mind. They are looking for: “What’s in it for me?”

“What’s in it for me?” translates into “So What?” Potential customers should not have to spend time trying to figure out what’s in it for them. That “So What?” question is part of their thought process. Unfortunately for us, unless it is readily apparent, they will not take the time to do this thought process unless they are very highly motivated. That means that you should do it for them as part of your message development. What’s in it for them is called a “BENEFIT.” Translating attributes or specifications into benefits is a marketing 101. Yet, take a look at websites and other marketing campaigns on the Internet. How many of them are using benefits to market their services or products?  How many of them have honed their benefits to match the needs and desires of their target market? How many have addressed the emotional needs of their market?

How many have a Value Proposition that is prominently displayed in all of their marketing? How many of them have a Value Proposition that is the succinct statement of the greatest and specific benefit? In my experience….NOT MANY!

One way to arrive there is the: “So What?” question. Asking this question about each attribute, specification get us to a benefit. Asking this question about each benefit can help us hone that benefit to the best benefit in the minds of our target market. Keep asking it until there is not another answer. We can easily see how the: “So What?” question can help us create benefits.

The second area where this question is important is in the planning for online marketing campaigns. Asking the: So What? question gets us to focus on meaningful OUTCOMES of our efforts, rather than the marketing strategy itself. Internet marketing lends itself to tracking lots of outcomes, many of which have no real meaning to the organization.

Which is more important?

• getting lots of traffic to a website or getting less, but more qualified, traffic to a website
• getting people to a website or getting them to take a favored action once they get there
• the click through rate or the conversion rate of keywords
• a good website or lots of traffic
• High search engine rankings or more sales

I hope you now understand why: “So What?” is one of my favorite questions in the world of Internet marketing.

What’s your favorite question?

If you like what you are reading, subscribe to my RSS feed!

Tags: Brand + Technology, Internet Marketing, Non Linear Internet Marketing, Online Marketing

This entry was posted on Friday, April 17th, 2009 at 2:01 pm and is filed under Internet Marketing, Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.