Stop others from undermining your marketing

As marketers, we spend untold dollars and hours to carefully craft our advertising to make a great impression. And as often as not, that impression is then undermined or destroyed by subsequent interactions and communications from other departments in the company.

Examples:
● I work like crazy to attract applicants for a new credit card. They go online to apply, and are faced with an application form drafted by lawyers and bureaucrats that is confusing to complete and difficult to understand.
● I buy an insurance policy (and you know what a tough sell that is!) and in return for my premium get a 60 page contract couched in words I’ve never seen before.
● My favorite retailer wants me to sign up for their loyalty club, and gives me an application form asking for so much information that it makes me feel like I’m applying for a job with the CIA.

NOT MY FAULT
“That’s not my fault,” I hear marketers say. “That form/application/communication isn’t my responsibility. That’s another department.” And strictly speaking, they’re probably right. But as a marketer you are (or should be) responsible for your company’s relationship with the prospect/customer.

There is absolutely no reason, other than laziness, that your company’s communications cannot be understandable and (dare I say it?) fun to deal with. Everyone pays lip service to the idea that we should treat people the way that we would like to be treated (Golden Rule) or the way they want to be treated (Platinum Rule). Then we turn around and treat them the way that is most convenient for us, and to hell with what they want.

So the next time you’re trying to figure out how to improve your prospect conversion rate or your customer retention, try looking at the hoops that you make people jump through to do business with you. The bar is set so low that it takes almost no effort to look better than the competition. Just take the time to work with your lawyers and service departments to create easy to understand communications, preferably with a consistently fun tonality. Like this opening to a system alert from MailChimp: “First and foremost, we haven’t changed the fact that we never rent, sell, or give away your list to anybody. That would be evil…”

People like to understand what they’re reading. And they like to laugh and smile. So to increase how many people like your company, and how much they like it, take the lead in getting your company to create communications that are easy to understand and fun to read. And enjoy the goodwill it creates.