"Educating" vs. "Marketing"

When companies get together to figure out how to market a new service or product, many strategic planning sessions eventually reach a point that I like to call "Pull the Leash." (Actually, I just made that up, but pretend it's something I trademarked five years ago.)

Pull the Leash happens when everyone in the meeting--Sales, Marketing, R&D, you name it--becomes passionate about the idea that if their customers knew as much about the product's features as they did, they would buy it instantly. It's as if the customer is on a leash, sniffing the bushes of competitors, and you can give them a yank and force them back to learning everything you know.

It's the moment when someone says "we need to educate the marketplace" or "we need to launch an awareness campaign."

Now, as the son of a university administrator and a music teacher, I will never underestimate the importance of education. Nor will I jump to the other extreme and claim that marketing has to be so focused on creating an image or selling a benefit as to be allergic to informing.

But Pull the Leash is almost always a sure sign that your perspective is too internally focused. It's the moment when you need to step outside the office and spend some time living in the same world as your customers. Do you, as an average person, sit around hoping that everyone who sells you something might try to educate you a little more about it? Are you all too eager to turn off The Daily Show after the kids go to bed so you can learn everything there is to know about non-bleach, hypoallergenic paper towels? It might be important for purchases of exceptional interest or cost, but in general, the answer is no.

Your customers' lives are just as busy, noisy and chaotic as yours. To affect their behavior, I think the simplest rule is this:

If you want someone to do something, make it easy. If you want someone to know something, make it fun.