How the Blizzard of 2016 Can Improve Your Marketing

Here on the East Coast, we were hit with “The Blizzard of 2016.” Where I live, 27 inches of snow fell on Saturday.

Of course if you live in the U.S. you already know this and you already know the “top of mind” attention this wintry weather is generating.

Interestingly enough, there is a valuable marketing lesson here amongst the snow drifts – one that can help improve your marketing, boost response and increase conversions.

The reason everybody is talking about the weather (you cannot watch five minutes of TV or listen to the radio without hearing of the Blizzard of 2016) is because of the deep emotional reaction is stirs in everybody.

• Tens of thousands of people had their travel disrupted
• Kids are hoping for (and got) a day off from school
• Some adults are dreading the thought of driving to work
• In others, it rekindles fond memories of their care-free youth
• Everybody dreads the thought of shoveling out
• And yet others welcome time spent out doors skiing, sledding and enjoying the beauty of nature

No doubt about you’d be hard pressed to find anybody who doesn’t have some sort of emotional reaction to the snowy weather that was just dumped on the mid-Atlantic states.

Now consider your product or service. Does it stir a deep, gut-level emotional reaction with its intended audience?

If not, chances are you’ve haven’t done the necessary work to seriously uncover the true emotional benefits you offer and how they impact your target market.

Not superficially like how most marketing is done.

How many times have you heard something like “XYZ helps you make more money” or “ABC saves you time.”

That’s rather plain vanilla, don’t you think? It’s not the deep emotional connection you need to make with your audience for maximum response and sales.

If you want to improve your marketing, boost response and increase conversion, you MUST consider how your product or service helps by making the connection to your target audience’s emotions.

How does it make them feel? What does it really do for them?

Its well worth the time and effort needed to “go deep” and uncover these extremely PROFITABLE connections.

One of the most effective ways to determine this is by asking your customers and clients probing, thoughtful, open-ended questions about your product and what it does for them.  An easy tool for doing this is an online survey tool and the one I am using in 2016 is SurveyGizmo.

It might even be helpful (depending on where you live) to even use the blizzard metaphor as an example of what you are looking for. Remember maximum response requires you to connect your product or service at an emotional level.

If you live here on the east coast of the U.S. leave a comment below about how MUCH snow you got in your area over the weekend.