I admit it – with the holidays fast approaching, I’ve been seeing too many jewelry commercials. My eyes are sparkling with diamonds. That being said, here are three stratagems to brighten up your marketing efforts.
- Don’t overlook the “diamond in the rough.” Ever seen a picture of a raw, uncut diamond? It doesn’t look like much. It certainly wouldn’t make a woman swoon if you plunked it in a setting and gave it to her. Some marketing ideas are like that. In their original form, as your staff is brainstorming around the table, they look dull and boring. But do some judicious cutting and polishing, and you might find that what looked like a dud is actually the crown jewel of your marketing successes.
- Don’t ignore your “chocolate diamonds.” We all like to find the unique, exciting, amazing differentiator that will set us apart from the crowd. But, let’s face it: most of the features and benefits that businesses offer are … well … pretty ordinary. Don’t let that distress you! Find a creative way to market the ordinary, and the results can be astonishing. As proof, consider “chocolate diamonds.” Chocolate diamonds are, simply, brown diamonds: the most common type of diamond there is. There are tons of them. But call them “chocolate,” and you can suddenly sell them for thousands of dollars each. That is the value of turning the “ordinary” into the “extraordinary”!
- Don’t forget to polish your diamonds. Recently, I had my two heirloom diamond rings professionally cleaned. The “before” and “after” difference was quite impressive, and I have vowed to clean them regularly from now on so that they maintain their sparkle. Similarly, don’t forget to polish even your best marketing campaigns to prevent their message from getting dull. The change of a word here or there, a new image, a tweak in emphasis … all these may help you to keep in touch with a changing marketplace.
Here’s wishing you a true “gem” of a holiday season!
Author: Paula Marolewski