The True Value of Innovative Marketing

By Dan Coughlin, author of the new book,
ACCELERATE: 20 Practical Lessons to Boost Business Momentum
Visit Dan at www.businessacceleration.com 

Marketing is any attempt to attract customers or prospects to use (or reuse) your product or service.

Innovation is the process of identifying, combining, evaluating and implementing opportunities to add value to other people.

Value is anything that increases the chances that other people will achieve what they want to achieve.

Consequently, innovative marketing is an attempt to attract people to use your product or service by providing them with value before they purchase anything.

Innovative Marketing is different than advertising. When you advertise, you show people what they could gain from working with your organization and how you would deliver these results. In Innovative Marketing, you actually give people something that increases their chances for success without them having to make any further purchase.

Five Potential Examples of Innovative Marketing:

• Airlines
  First, we need to identify what is of value to people who fly. What about knowing how to maximize luggage space? An airline could put together a four-page booklet with visuals that describes the most efficient way to pack clothes, shoes, toiletries and so on. Then they could mail it to anyone who has booked a flight in the past year. They could place their logo on the booklet. In this manner, customers or prospects might keep this airline top of mind when they book their next flight.
• Quick Service Restaurants
  Rather than advertising a special meal deal for kids, what if a quick service restaurant had a 30 second commercial on how to properly install a baby seat and the importance of always strapping children in before starting the car.
• Casinos
  What if casinos mailed out a 10-page booklet on "Best Tips For Winning At Blackjack and Craps." They could have examples of different ways to play in a variety of situations and the potential risk/reward for each move. They could have quotes from successful players as to the strategies they use. As people began to understand the games better, they might start going to the casinos more often.
• Professional Football Teams
  What matters to a professional football fan? Well, the serious ones want to play a role in establishing the game plan and calling the plays. A way to provide innovative marketing would be to mail an actual game plan from the season before along with the plays that the coach called and an explanation of why he called them. In addition, there could be an insert where the fan would write in their game plan and the plays they would have called. This would add value to the customer or prospect without them having to buy another ticket. They would feel like they were part of the coaching staff. Of course, now they would really want to come to the game to test their knowledge.
• Appliance Companies
  What about something as mundane as a company that sells light bulbs? How do they provide innovative marketing? It starts by asking, "What is of value to our customers?" People who buy light bulbs want to know easy ways to store them and retrieve them. It is very annoying to have a light bulb go out at an important moment. The light bulb company could have a free handout at the store that explains "5 Tips For Keeping Your Light Bulbs Handy."

About Dan Coughlin

You can visit Dan at www.businessacceleration.com . He is the author of ACCELERATE: 20 Practical Lessons to Boost Business Momentum. As a keynote business speaker and management consultant, his clients include Toyota, Boeing, McDonald’s, Marriott, Coca-Cola, Eli Lilly, and the St. Louis Cardinals. Quoted in USA Today, the New York Times, and Investor’s Business Daily, Dan’s articles have appeared in more than 100 publications. He will speak at HBWE in August, 2008.

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