There’s an old saying from that Einstein bloke that goes “if I had an hour to solve a problem I'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.” Things move so fast today that old Bert might even get fired for saying that.
Now we know what you're thinking. What does the chap who invented the theory of relativity have to do with marketing? Well it turns out Einstein really did have a point about taking your time (well, he had a point about most things come to think of it.)
As you already know the lifeblood of your business isn't any old customers, but the most profitable ones. Finding the latter is a tad trickier than the former, especially in the frantic madness of modern marketing. And in that madness it can be tempting to look for hacks and quick fixes.
Unicorn thinking
In a funny way Apple did the marketing world no favours when they launched the iPhone (16 years ago in case you were wondering.) Let's be honest they found the business equivalent of a unicorn; a completely unique product which had absolutely no competition. No wonder they sold like hot cakes.
On the face of it, the iPhone sounds like the classic business fairytale driven by instinct and a sprinkling of genius. But there’s a bit more to it than that. For a start what appeared to be an overnight success actually took over two years to bring to life. And although Apple boasted that they didn’t do any market research at the time – it turned out later that they did.
What nobody tells you when you start marketing your business is that there are no shortcuts. Sure, new technology and research methods have given businesses like yours access to a speed of working that only big brands could access 10 years ago. Trying to be agile is tempting, but in our experience moving too fast usually leads to unclear and unfocussed marketing.
As Suhail Doshi once said, “most of the world will make decisions by either guessing or using their gut. They will be either lucky or wrong.” Doshi's quote is an ominous reminder that the old finger in the wind approach is not a repeatable formula for success.
Be right, not fast
We like to think that the best creative ideas are rooted in commercial thinking. In the post-USP era, where most customers are bombarded with the noise of thousands of similar brands, it’s more important than ever to hit the mark with your marketing.
At Think! this is why we are all about giving you “creativity with intent.” This means having a plan of action and a direction of travel. In other words, before we go anywhere near a Sharpie or pop open Photoshop, we have some homework to do. What do your customers think? What turns them on? Or turns them off? What exactly are those pesky competitors up to? And what’s happening in culture more generally?
If you know the answer to those questions, you'll find it much easier to put yourself in the right place – the mind of your target customer. Keep doing that for long enough, and all of a sudden, you’ll be well on the way to building a brand that builds your business.
Creative and marketing work can be exciting, and we know you’re keen to get to the fun bit – seeing your brand come to life. But before we get there, remember that as Steve and Albert taught us, everything's better with a bit of a Think!
